How to Discover Your Next Favorite Band

Guide Note

Has your music library grown stale? This page offers tips on discovering new music. It will show you How to Discover Your Next Favorite Band!

Step 1: Use web music recommendation services

• Web sites like Pandora, Last.fm, iLike and SeeqPod will recommend music based on music you like. Each service has somewhat different recommendations, so by using all four, you can get a wide range of suggestions.

How to discover new music with Pandora

1. Go to Pandora.
2. Register for free using the button in the upper right hand corner.
3. Once you have registered, click "Create a New Station".
   

   Figure 1: Pandora's "Create a New Station" button
4. Type in the name of an artist or song that you particularly like.
5. Click "Create".
6. Wait for about a minute as Pandora creates a station based on the information you've provided.
7. If you have entered an artist's name, the station will play a song that it thinks is a good example of that artist's work. If you agree, hover your mouse over the album cover, and click on the thumbs-up icon.
8. More music will play that is similar to what you have selected. If you like it, hover your mouse over the album cover, and click on the thumbs-up icon. If you don't, hover your mouse over the album cover, and click on the thumbs-down icon.
9. If you enjoy a song, hover your mouse over the album cover and click on the triangle icon. You can bookmark the artist for later investigation, or buy music from that artist from iTunes or Amazon.

How to discover new music with Last.fm

1. Go to Last.fm.
2. In the middle left hand side, where it says "Type in an artist you like", type in the name of an artist you enjoy.
   

   Figure 2: Last.fm's "Type in an artist you like" window
3. Click "Find similar artists".
4. Click on the name of one of the suggested artists.
5. Under "Listen Now", click to play a sample of one of their songs.
6. If you'd like to hear more, scroll down further to play samples from other songs.
7. Click "Buy" next to a specific track to purchase it from iTunes.
8. Click "Buy Album" beneath an album to purchase it from Amazon.

How to discover new music with iLike

1. Go to iLike.
2. Click on the "Create Your Own Profile Today" button.
3. Fill out the fields requested, and click "Join iLike".
4. If you want to immediately find friends on iLike, you can key in your email account information to send emails to your friends about the service.
5. If you want iLike to learn more about your musical taste from iTunes, download the iTunes sidebar.
6. At the bottom of your profile page, you will see a list of people with similar tastes. Click on their icons to see what they're listening to.
7. Type in the name of a band to bring up that band's artist page. Under the "Related Artists" area is a list of bands that are similar. Click on their names to see their pages.
   

   Figure 3: iLike's "Related Artists" area
8. Click on the title of a song to listen to a sample.
9. If you like the song, click on the "iTunes" or "Amazon.com" links to purchase it.
10. Click on "Save for Later" to add it to your Save for Later list.

How to discover new music with SeeqPod

1. Go to SeeqPod.
2. In the search window, type the name of a band you like.
3. Click "Discover".
4. Click on the name of a track in order to bring it into the audio player.
   

   Figure 4: In Seeqpod, click the name of a track to add it to your playlist
5. Click the Play button.

Step 2: Ask your friends

• Your friends probably share some of your taste. Tell them a little bit about what you like, and they may be able to suggest new bands you'd enjoy.

Step 3: Listen to music samples on the Web or iTunes

• In addition to the sites in Step 1, you can listen to samples of music on the web at sites like Amazon.com, eMusic and MySpace, as well as on the music software iTunes.

Listening to music samples on Amazon

1. Go to Amazon.com.
2. In the search box, type in the name of a band you are interested in.
3. Click on an album title.
4. Scroll down to the header "Listen To Samples".
5. To listen to all the samples, click on "Listen to All".
6. To listen to specific samples, click on the "Listen" link in the column beneath your desired music format.
7. To investigate similar music, review the albums under the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" heading.
8. Click on an album title.
9. Repeat from step 4.

Listening to music samples on eMusic

1. Go to eMusic.
2. If you are not yet registered, scroll down and click on the "About eMusic" link.
3. Click on the "Browse" button in the toolbar.
4. Under "Refine By", click a genre of music you are interested in.
5. Click on the cover of an album that interests you.
6. Click on the speaker icon to the left of a particular track to listen to that song.
7. Click on the "Listen" button to the right of the album cover to listen to every song.
8. To find similar artists, click on the band name.
9. On the band page, look for the area in the right hand column labeled "Similar Artists"
   

   Figure 5: The "Similar Artists" area in eMusic
10. Click on a band's name to investigate their music.
11. Repeat from Step 5.

Listening to music samples on MySpace

1. Go to MySpace.
2. In the block of text links beneath the "Cool New Videos" section, click on "Music".
   

   Figure 6: Link to the MySpace music section
3. If a band on the front page interests you, click on their icon to be brought to their page.
4. If not, scroll down to "Top Genres" and click on a genre you are interested in.
   

   Figure 7: Scroll down to find MySpace's genres menu
5. Click on a band that interests you.
6. The band's music should auto-play. If it does not, click the Play button.

Listening to music samples on iTunes

1. Open the iTunes software.
2. In the left-hand column, click on "iTunes Store".
3. If an album or song title interests you, click on it. If not, skip to step 5.
4. In the bottom window, click on any song title to listen to a sample.
5. To find music similar to bands you enjoy, type in the name of a band you like in the "Search iTunes Store" field in the top right-hand corner of iTunes.
6. Under "Artists", click on the name of the band you are interested in.
7. Look at the bands under the "Listeners Also Bought" heading in the right-hand column.
8. Click on a band name to see their albums.
9. Click on an album title to see more about it.
10. In the bottom window, click on any song title to listen to a sample.

Step 4: Listen to podcasts of the genre you're interested in

• Some music fans put together podcasts of music they like and distribute them via the Internet. By listening to these podcasts, you can find new music you haven't yet discovered. Directories like Podcast Pickle have information on podcasts. You can also find podcasts through iTunes.

To find podcasts with Podcast Pickle

1. Go to Podcast Pickle.
2. Pull down the center pull-down menu, labeled "Genres".
3. Scroll until you find a genre you like.
4. Click on a podcast that interests you.
5. Scroll down to see recent episodes.
6. To download an episode, click "Download".

To find podcasts with iTunes

1. In the left-hand menu, click on "Podcasts".
2. In the lower right of the bottom toolbar, click on "Podcast Directory".
3. In the "Categories" menu on the left hand side, click on "Music".
4. If one of the podcasts shown interests you, click on it and proceed to step 7.
5. Click on the words "See All" in the "Featured" window bar.
6. Click on a podcast that interests you.
7. Click on the name of any individual podcast edition to listen to a sample.
8. To get a specific episode, click on the "Get Episode" button to the far right.
9. To subscribe to the podcast, click on the "Subscribe" button in the main window. New episodes of the podcast will download to your computer automatically as they become available.

Step 5: Listen to the radio

• With so many new technologies available, many people have forgotten one of the simplest methods of discovering new music: listen to the radio!

1. Turn on the radio.
2. Tune to a station that interests you.
3. Change station as necessary.

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