Ways to find new music

It’s a bit sad going to clubs and bars in Puerto Rico. The DJ’s play the exact same set of Spanish-rock songs that everybody knows and everybody expects. And when there is a band playing, guess which songs they cover? … Give up? The exact same set of Spanish-rock songs mixed in with Bon Jovi.

Radio stations aren’t better. Although the FM band in the island is stuffed full, most of the stations have a Top 40 format. We only have one decent/good local rock station. And the absolute best station on the planet is in St. Thomas, so we can only enjoy if we can have the reception.

I think I would’ve ended my life by now if it wasn’t for Al Gore and his miraculous Internet apparatus.

As I keep trekking through the Web 2.0 seas, new sites for discovering music keep popping up. Each uses their own methods to recommend and play songs in their entirety that you may like. As they feed from what you tell them, they evolve and accommodate to your tastes. Eventually, you can listen to a stream of music that you love, but have never heard before. Unreal, isn’t it?

A big chunk of the music I enjoy is by independent artist that have benefited greatly from these services. Without labels and their exorbitant fees, their music is out there, being listened-too and purchased. And isn’t that the way it should be? Why should artists work hard so record executives can afford mansions, yachts, jets and hourly hand-jobs?

Here’s a collection of some of the stuff I’m interested in:

The old-school way: SHOUTcast
They’ll always be a place for streaming radio. Nullsoft’s SHOUTcast software has enabled just about anybody with the inclination to setup their very own music station. There are thousands upon thousands of them out there organized by genres. It’s also build into software you may already be using, like iTunes and the beloved XBMC. SHOUTcast is also supported by many other clients, like Nullsoft’s own Winamp, VLC media player, XMMS and Zinf.

The genomic way: Pandora
I’ve been using this awesome free service for about a year and a half. It’s unique in that they tag music with very informed descriptions by The Music Genome Project. As you tell it what songs you like or dislike from what it plays you, Pandora uses the descriptions to adapt to your tastes, and constantly serve you great music.

The versatile way: Slacker
“Slacker is a new kind of music company. We deliver personal radio that is customized for every listener”. It’s like SHOUTcast and Pandora combined. Sort of: The artist stations are only based on “similar artist” profiles and it doesn’t learn the way Pandora does. It also has streaming stations by genre, but unlike SHOUTcast the playlists are being generated on the fly just for you. Songs are skipable a limited amount of times thanks to the RIAA.

The customizable way: Finetune
Finetune streams tracks from the user’s favorite artists, and lets the user create and share playlists online. Playlists are 45 tracks long. But there are some RIAA induced limitations: You can only include 3 songs from the same artist in any given playlist and songs can only be played one time. I only used this once, but I was very impressed with the recommendations.

The social way: Last.fm
Last.fm is a music-based social networking site. I have it setup with iTunes and XBMC. All the music I listen on these gets listed on my Last.fm profile. The site can then give me recommendations based on what it has learned from other profiles. It also matches me with people that listen to similar music.

The less-free way: Amie Street
Amie Street is an online music store and social network service. Artists upload tracks onto the site, which allows users to purchase them at a price that varies according to demand. The price for all tracks starts at zero when a song is uploaded onto the site. It then rises according to the increased demand. The maximum price a song can reach is 98¢. Website users earn credits by recommending (”REC”) songs to their friends. If the REC leads to users purchasing it, the price of the song will increase. The user will earn credit based on the increase in the price of the song after making the REC. Artists keep 70% of the proceeds after $5 in sales for each song. - Are you paying attention? This is the future, people.

The patient way: SXSW
I’ve first heard about some of my favorite artist (whether directly or indirectly) thanks to the South by Southwest music festival. Every year over a thousand bands go to Austin, TX to play at dozens of venues. The best thing about the festival (for someone that has never been to Austin) is that the SXSW site offers a free musical sampler. Before the start date they release a Bittorrent file with over 700 songs. All mp3’s. All DRM-free. I call it “the patient way” because it’s a tedious process to sort through 700+ songs to keep the ones you like. For the 2006 set it took me over six months. This year I sorted it in about two: iTunes and a Sansa are a big help. I kept almost 250 songs for 2006 and little over 190 for 2007. That’s a lot of free music.

Also, since I’ve discovered quite a few bands through blogs, maybe I should just set your ass up some phat tracks:

The Birthday Massacre - Video Kid
Boss Martians - Power Of Doubt
The Catch - Empty Your Pockets
End Of Fashion - O Yeah
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
Morningwood - Nth Degree
Page France - Junkyard
Sarah Hepburn - Hey Ok
Sia - Breathe Me
The Twenty Twos - She Does
Bishop Allen - Click Click Click
Eilen Jewell - Back To Dallas
K’NAAN - If Rap Gets Jealous
Loney Dear - I Am John
The Mooney Suzuki - 99%
Mute Math - Typical
Simple Kid - Seratonin
Sparkle Motion - Try
This Will Destroy You - I Believe In Your Victory
Voxtrot - Trouble

All these are provided through the SXSW site. Enjoy.

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