Okay, some preliminaries:
1. I rarely listen to the radio, especially here, where you get more static than anything.
2. I don't even own a stereo/CD player--I play music on the computer or CD player in my car.
3. I don't really watch videos.
4. I balk at spending $16 or $17 for a CD when I only know or like one song.
So, the fact that all the music I know tends to be "popular"--heard on mix CDs or gleaned from my staticky radio--should be no surprise.
Here's the question--how do you get turned on to music that's not mainstream/doesn't get much radio play? (For example, I first heard Teedra Moses on one of my soror's myspace page). I'm really burned out on hearing the same thing and the same people over and over.
Plus, I feel soooooo unsophisticated.
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8 comments:
Ooh! Ooh! I know the answer to this!
Get a Yahoo Launch station. Music.yahoo.com. You rate the music you like, then they select related (but often lesser known) stuff for you, which you can skip, rate, choose never to hear again, mark as love, etc. My spouse has got the most kick-ass launch station evah, and it's turned me on to three or four new bands that I've never heard on the radio.
Pandora is fun to try. You tell it what you like, and it finds new music for you based on your tastes.
Oh, don't feel bad. There really isn't much out there on mainstream radio (and what is out there is garbage or demeaning. ugh!).
I find out about new music, of which you describe, from NPR, friends, etc.
ok, cool. thanks for the ideas
I use Pandora too, and I love it. I also get music ideas from friends that are cooler than I am. If you are into singer/songwriter type stuff, a couple of relatively obscure people are Heather Nova, Ben Kweller, Pete Yorn (although he is a little more famous) and Elliott Smith. Their stuff is mostly on the mellow side.
I haven't played around with it much yet, but I did just sign up for this new (free) online service called Goombah. Basically it looks at your iTunes library, and then compares it to other registered users, and then tells you about songs that other people who have similar frequently-played songs have that you don't--kind of a librarything for music. I've only downloaded one or two of their recommendations, and they were okay--not great, but not awful.
I see Veronica has mentioned Pandora. I listen to a specific 'rock' station that is more up-to-date and actually plays anything from Eliza Gilkyson to Led Zeppelin. And our college station here NPR/PRI via; it's got quite the eclectic mix.
And another place I've gotten good music referrals are from a few of the blogs I comment on regularly, and we find things via You Tube or somewhere to share. I found Mavis Staples this way & Razorlight.
You can also find a lot of cool new music cruising MySpace if you have the time... :-)
Gwyneth
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