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7 Ways To Find New Music
Make 2025 your year of new music.
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We’ve all been there, getting the same suggestions in our New Music and Discovery playlists. And sure, you love them, but you are craving new-new. Something exciting to your ears, something you have never heard of, something… different.
Here are seven ways to find the new-to-you music you’re searching for.
Let us know what you find - we’d love to take a listen!
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New Platform
Go big or go home…
You’ve spent years on the same platform, and sure, you have all your playlists there - and you’ve built those ‘personalized’ algorithm playlists brick-by-brick. Every time you get a playlist recommendation, it is the same as the day, week, and month before. Because that is what the algorithm knows you like - it does not need to give you anything actually new.
But a new platform would have to learn about you. You can go through the onboarding taste profile creation from scratch. Put the machine through its paces. Instead of clicking the same bands and genres, go wild, click on genres you’d never usually select, and tap on bands you’ve never heard before.
Make the selection so broad that the first few playlist recommendations are a big genre mix. And, more importantly, resist your knee-jerk reaction to skip something that isn’t in your usual mixes, or you’ll be back in the loop again. There are so many great options for music streaming services; don’t feel like you’re stuck on one. Move your playlists with you—or go bold and start with nothing. |  |
Interact, No More Passive Listening
Speak now, or forever listen to the same beat.
Hearts, Likes, adding songs and artists to playlists, skipping, and blocking—real, active feedback makes a big difference.
Most listeners will listen passively; you hit play on a playlist, and the algorithm will take over after your playlist runs out. It can be so seamlessly done that you won’t be able to tell. You won’t hear anything out of the ordinary - and this passive listening behavior will tell the algo that this is the music you like. Then, when the time comes for your personalized ‘made for you’ playlists - you’ll get the same thing again.
Because that is what you want, right?
So, in the pursuit of fresh music, it is time to take charge. Don’t like it? Skip it. Are there artists or songs you never want to hear again? Block them. Enjoy artists; follow them. Create and add music to playlists.
You can start taking a more active role in what you listen to. You’re helping the algorithm understand you more, and you’ll begin to move away from the passive suggestions and build a solid taste profile.
But… if you really want to mess up the system, start skipping, blocking, and hiding everything (even stuff you love). The algorithm will be forced to deliver those automatic playlists and begin to make suggestions that you haven’t blocked.
Credits, Written by, Produced by…
These are GOLD when you are looking for new music to listen to. It will depend on what you have access to in terms of metadata. For those on TIDAL or Qobuz, song data is your quick key to fresh stuff.
Start to go down the rabbit hole.
Find a song or artist you know you like, and then look for ‘produced by.’
Rather than looking for other songs by the artists, take a different approach.
Producers often have a sound signature - which you enjoy (even if you didn’t know it was them), and they work with multiple genres and artists.
To do this on TIDAL: Search Artists, as usual, using the search function, Click Album or Song, Click Credits, Scroll, and Click on names at random. You’ll be taken to those profiles and then start exploring.
The Playlist Miner
Maybe you don’t want to listen to experimental indie jazz-techno fusion. Perhaps you want new bands that sound like bands you like. Or bands with a common theme, like heavy guitars or deep bass. Well, say hello to The Playlist Miner.
It's a super smart tool that uses everyone’s playlists to give you what you want. The Playlist Miner aggregates the top tracks from public playlists. So, just by searching for a context item like a workout or going shopping, you will get a huge range of suggestions based on that. |  |
 | You’ll need to log in with your Spotify account, but after that, you have the world at your feet. The coolest part? Once you have a list of playlists, you can select the top 100 tracks and instantly create that playlist on your Spotify. By the way, if you can think of it, someone has a playlist about it… Eggs, anyone? |
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If there were ever a place to ask something, it would be on Reddit. There are so many dedicated subreddits for music and playlists, and with thousands of people from all over the world, you’ll get more recommendations than you know what to do with.
And, for those who want to remain long-time lurkers rather than posters, here are some threads to help you find new music.
Reddit is a hotbed of music conversation; not only does it have a lot of audiophiles, but it has plenty of bands, musicians, and playlist makers looking to get heard.
It is an excellent resource for new music!
Radio is Not Dead
Radio has worked as music discovery for over 80 years and still has a solid place in your new music journey. The trick, though, is avoiding a couple of the biggest stations - and choosing a couple of these instead:
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Gnoosic
What? Yes.
It is the little music search engine you didn’t know you needed and probably didn’t know existed.
 | It couldn’t be quicker or easier to use. You type in three bands/artists you like, then click continue. We recommend going with wildly different genres if you can. On the following screen, you’ll see bands or artists' names and occasionally a YouTube video. You can mark them as like, don’t like, or don’t know. Anything you haven’t heard of before - write it down and go searching |
In the search for new music in an algorithm-based listening world, you’ll need to get a little creative.
But it’ll be worth it when you find your next song to have on repeat. We’re super curious about where you go for new music recommendations.
Let us know what you find!
Where do you find new music? |
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