I know the question is rather awkward at first and I am possibly overlooking something, but I would like to know something I really don’t understand.
In the past I have used modified versions of Spotify and they are fine but obviously no modified version allows you to download songs because it is a premium function at server level and honestly I would like to have my songs on my device, so if I don’t have internet I can still listen to them.
After those modified versions of Spotify, I have used apps like ViMusic, Spotube and SimpMusic which are basically Youtube Music apps but without ads and with more features, including downloading music, the problem is that they do that at the level of the app itself, not in a separate file. And I love these apps and I can not recommend them enough but my phone is a little old and I see 0 need to change it since I use it for basics usage and although this can sound dumb the interface of these apps are full of blur and unnecessary effects that make my device slow, including Spotify, and I don’t like Spotify Lite because I feel it is a very trimmed version of Spotify.
So this is where my question comes in, for those who exclusively download music, how do you discover new songs? Spotify’s recommendation system is great and Youtube’s radio mode is very good but obviously I need to use Spotify or Youtube Music to use it and I prefer to use light apps for local playback because of what I already mentioned.
Edit: Thanks for all the recommendations! I never thought this post would get so many answers and there are too many comments to answer one by one, but I admit that the old-school method of reading blogs or magazines works well, and I also like the idea of sites like Last.fm or discogs.
Mainly local radio broadcasts, sometimes thematic webradios such as Radio Metal. Recently I’ve been linking my music player to LastFM so we’ll see how it performs.
I thought there would at least be local community radios held by associations in the US. The way you’re describing this we’ve got pretty much the same situation in France where all the mainstream radios are owned by one of the few media groups, but that doesn’t stop local community radios from broadcasting for more than 50 years for some of them.
Review sites for genres I like. I find a lot of new music on Angry Metal Guy. That one’s just for metal, but there are all kinds of different review sites
Most music I have is from “Pay what you want” albums from Ponies@Dawn, VibePoniez, A State Of Sugar, etc.
When I come across artists I like, I tend to check out their other tracks and grab the ones I like.
I get most of my recommendations via Diaspora and Mastodon (2 social networks that are part of the fediverse). They allow you to follow hashtags, so I just follow the hashtags of the music I’m interested and see people’s posts that are tagged with them
I pay a little to pirate. Basically I’ve figured out how to download a large percentage of lossless songs from playlists I find anywhere. I scrape playlists of radio stations i like. I import those CSVs into Soundiiz, which costs $4/mo. Youtube mixes I like, in they go the same way, imoporting tracklists. Using Soundiiz, I import those lists into qobuz and deezer, which I use to pull down lossless FLACs using deemix and qobuz-dl in linux. Qobuz and Deezer and other streaming services have curated playlists by staff and subscribers, I just download the whole lists. I replaced lists of my mp3s like youtube rips, with FLACs, the same way. Qobuz and Deezer have free trial memberships but TBH after the sheer amount I’ve pulled down from them, it’s worth it to me. I’ve had to buy new hard drives because of this.
Recommendations are a must for me since I listen to genres which do not do well with western audiences in terms of organic recommendations.
If you want an automatic way to discover new music before you actually stumble upon the music itself, listenbrainz might be a decent FOSS alternative to last.fm. I would also use libre.fm on a personal server to check my own habits.
However, I also use YouTube music a lot, especially when I want to find something new. This does need one to be active on YT music with specific cookies set (in case you’d like to transfer listening history and habits across browsers/computers without signing in) to give you good recommendations. The good part is that it can likely show you good recommendations inside a few hours of you showing it what you like by playing your favourites.
For example, it was on YouTube music that I found Today is a beautiful day by Supercell and Et si tu n'existais pas by Hélène Ségara & Joe Dassin.
I use last.fm to track the songs i am listening to and ot gives spotify like recommendations and monthly statistics on what kind of music you listen to,top artist etc.
Yeah. Unless you have a distinctly niche music taste, spotify just recommends everyone the same thing. Maybe a little bit more personalized by adding a few songs you listened to in the past.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.
Mainly local radio broadcasts, sometimes thematic webradios such as Radio Metal. Recently I’ve been linking my music player to LastFM so we’ll see how it performs.
I’m guessing you’re not in the US? 'Cause here nearly everyone is owned by Clear Channel/iHeartMedia. Nothing of value is being discovered there.
I thought there would at least be local community radios held by associations in the US. The way you’re describing this we’ve got pretty much the same situation in France where all the mainstream radios are owned by one of the few media groups, but that doesn’t stop local community radios from broadcasting for more than 50 years for some of them.
Well look at that, there are some in the US - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_radio_stations_in_the_United_States
Review sites for genres I like. I find a lot of new music on Angry Metal Guy. That one’s just for metal, but there are all kinds of different review sites
Most music I have is from “Pay what you want” albums from Ponies@Dawn, VibePoniez, A State Of Sugar, etc.
When I come across artists I like, I tend to check out their other tracks and grab the ones I like.
Ah, someone else who went down the rabbit hole of pony music.
Koa very quickly became one of my favourite artists as soon as she came in the scene ❤️
What I find amusing is just how many people have no idea how much pony music The Living Tombstone made back in the day.
Two artists who constantly churn out bangers are 4everfree and PrinceWhateverer.
And I’m the same: find an artist, look up their other stuff. I have the full discography of most of my favourite bands/artists.
Bandcamp is phenomenal for finding the niche and unknown!
I get most of my recommendations via Diaspora and Mastodon (2 social networks that are part of the fediverse). They allow you to follow hashtags, so I just follow the hashtags of the music I’m interested and see people’s posts that are tagged with them
mostly from different subreddits i follow. others are record companies, and youtube channels like audiotree, kexp, tiny desk
Tunetank.com let’s you download 3 songs for free, or I think $10 a month for unlimited songs
im sad I got kicked off some private trackers for inactivity after streaming picked up 😮💨
I pay a little to pirate. Basically I’ve figured out how to download a large percentage of lossless songs from playlists I find anywhere. I scrape playlists of radio stations i like. I import those CSVs into Soundiiz, which costs $4/mo. Youtube mixes I like, in they go the same way, imoporting tracklists. Using Soundiiz, I import those lists into qobuz and deezer, which I use to pull down lossless FLACs using deemix and qobuz-dl in linux. Qobuz and Deezer and other streaming services have curated playlists by staff and subscribers, I just download the whole lists. I replaced lists of my mp3s like youtube rips, with FLACs, the same way. Qobuz and Deezer have free trial memberships but TBH after the sheer amount I’ve pulled down from them, it’s worth it to me. I’ve had to buy new hard drives because of this.
Recommendations are a must for me since I listen to genres which do not do well with western audiences in terms of organic recommendations.
If you want an automatic way to discover new music before you actually stumble upon the music itself,
listenbrainzmight be a decent FOSS alternative tolast.fm. I would also uselibre.fmon a personal server to check my own habits.However, I also use YouTube music a lot, especially when I want to find something new. This does need one to be active on YT music with specific cookies set (in case you’d like to transfer listening history and habits across browsers/computers without signing in) to give you good recommendations. The good part is that it can likely show you good recommendations inside a few hours of you showing it what you like by playing your favourites.
For example, it was on YouTube music that I found
Today is a beautiful daybySupercellandEt si tu n'existais pasbyHélène Ségara & Joe Dassin.Cheers
I use last.fm to track the songs i am listening to and ot gives spotify like recommendations and monthly statistics on what kind of music you listen to,top artist etc.
I don’t I am stuck ekth the same albums send help
youtube: charts 2023, played with --no-video.
YouTube suggested playlist
Just steal access to someone’s Spotify credentials.
You can use Vanced Spotify for unlimited listening, but the quality of recommendations on Spotify is terrible.
Yeah. Unless you have a distinctly niche music taste, spotify just recommends everyone the same thing. Maybe a little bit more personalized by adding a few songs you listened to in the past.
listen to college/indie radio and follow their playlists.
KUOM KCPR WFMU