I'm about to get real.
Because this is so important.
I'm talking about music.
Now everyone listens to music. Let's rewind to when I was a young arrogant Teen. Back then I only listened to classical music, and turned my nose up to anything that was not classical. I pretty much thought that anyone who listened to modern music was absolute scum for not listening to classical music. I was THAT snob.
I was actually really annoying about it... I've been reading through old journals and Facebook posts lately and man I was a little entitled brat. **Face palm.**
Fast forward a few years. Eventually I was sick of having no idea what kids my age were talking about. Plus I figured if I was going to make fun of their music I should know what I was listening to. So I broke. I started listening to pop.
But something crazy happened. I kinda liked it. So then I started branching off and listening to all sorts of "modern music," and eventually got into the indie scene of, "I listen to bands you've never heard of," and "I was listening to these guys before they were cool." That's about where I'm at now.
That's all besides the point. The point is, I branched out.
When I was the classical snob of my younger years, I think I knew that I was fighting a losing battle and that's why I was such a brat about it. The thing is, people actually don't care how bad the music is that they are listening to. And This is important. People don't care that a lot of music being made these days is just bad. I think subconsciously I knew that, and I knew that there was nothing I could do, which made me fight harder to get people to listen to good music.
There are several reasons why people don't care about how bad music has become. Pop music is easy to find. It's just there. On the radio, in the car, on the TV. It's cheap entertainment, and takes no effort for the listener to find, or enjoy. If fulfills its ultimate purpose and that is to have a catchy melody that is easy to like, and easy to understand.
Something important to understand is that we have a music industry that rewards PERFORMERS. Not SONG WRITERS. True, many popular musicians write their own music, which is totally awesome. But MANY, MANY of the big artists, (The ones with more than 1 million followers/ listeners,) DO NOT WRITE THEIR OWN MUSIC. They just perform it. The song writers are still paid 50% of all profits, but they receive little recognition. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND. (Usually I am not a chronic "caps lock" user, so this is very important.)
Pop music on the radio is also screened before a base audience that decides whether or not they like a song based on listening to about 7 seconds of that song. If enough people like it, then the song gets played on public radio.
IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO GOOD MUSIC YOU HAVE TO ACTUALLY PUT EFFORT INTO FINDING IT. You have to do your research, and you have to actually try.
NO PANDORA WILL NOT JUST MAGICALLY FIND WONDERFUL MUSIC FOR YOU. If you want to just jam to a bunch of music of a similar genre, then Pandora is great, but PANDORA IS NOT A MUSIC DISCOVERY TOOL. Pandora uses an algorithm to find similar songs based on other songs you like. It is preprogrammed, and it is a computer on the other side sending songs to you. It can only do so much.
Discovering music has become a major hobby for me. I constantly need new music and I go on a new crusade almost every week. Here's how I do it, and what I use. It may not work the same for everyone, but if you truly want to find new great music, this is a great way to do it.
Step 1: The Actual Discovery.
There are several sites on the great world wide web out there that I use to find new jams.
Spotify works pretty well. I use Apple music these days, and I like it a bit better, but the free version of Spotify on your computer will work just the same.
If you type in an artist that you already know you like, there will usually be a tab that says, "Artists like this," or "similar artists." This is a great way to link things to sounds you already love. You have to be careful, because just like a good old fashioned game of "telephone," the original sound you were looking for can quickly turn into an entirely different genre or sub genre.
Usually what I do, is I do a big haul of music, and I just flip through hundreds of songs. I listen to artists and albums, and I usually don't listen to entire songs, but I get a general vibe from the songs I'm listening to. If I like it enough in the beginning I save it to a playlist, or somewhere I can find it later. Then comes,
Step 2: The Field Test.
For me I connect well with music while I'm out and about. The best places are on a walk or while I'm driving around. This is where I find that playlist and just put it on. This is usually where I can listen to the whole song and definitely feel if it's right for me or not. For some reason here is where I can just immediately know weather or not it's a keeper.
So now I know which songs I like. Next usually comes a bit of time where I just fall in love with these songs and play them more frequently than my other stuff.
Step 3: Excitement.
You have to be careful during this part, this is usually the point in pop music where they play the hottest new song NON STOP on the radio and make everyone totally sick of that song. You have to be careful not to do that to your discoveries.
Don't get me wrong, there are totally those songs that I will play on repeat for the rest of my life with no reservations at all. Midnight City by M83 is totally one of those. That song will probably be on every playlist I make for the rest of my life. And that's okay. But you have to be super careful with new songs, because you can totally ruin a good song by playing it too much.
Step 4: Throw it back.
This is where you put the new stuff away for a little bit. Go back to some old stuff. It will make you appreciate it so much more and bring back tons of great memories. This also helps your brain and ears get exposed to different things which is so great for stimulating your brain. Seriously, a wide range of genres is honestly one of the best musical choices you can ever make for your brain.
Step 5: Come back to your new stuff later.
Sometimes I totally am unsure about a song, and I go through a love-hate relationship with it. So I put it away for a while, and like many relationships we have in life, all I needed was time. Sometimes a little time is totally what has saved certain songs for me. Coming back to a song at a later point is the greatest thing. Sometimes that song is totally what I needed in my life, but I didn't need it when I first discovered it. It has seriously been a life saver so many times.
This has been the case with so many of my current favorite songs that I cannot express the importance of doing this.
Side note- Musical slumps happen. Sometimes you just won't know what to listen to. It happens to me all the time, and I'm literally constantly on the search for new tunes. This is where Step 4 comes in. Throwing it back is always a great way to get the brain juices flowing, and make you remember what was happening in your life when you found the song, and what makes you- you!
Here are also some music sites for the open minded music lover.
I listen to A LOT of genres. Not country. Country is just terrible. But other than that I love LOTS OF MUSIC. I of course love classical, but I also love electronic, chill step, ambient electronic, alternative, rustic acoustic, jazz, smooth jazz, hard-bop jazz, be-bop jazz, new orleans jazz, indie rock, Soul, Motown, Bollywood, Oldies, Basically I will give most things a fighting chance before I totally move on with my life. So these sites are great for the music lover who has a totally open mind.
thisismyjam.com- This website was a great idea. People just literally got on and posted their current jam. Unfortunately not enough people were using it so the site shut down. But the archive of the site is still there. So you can get on and just listen to people's jams that they posted for about 2 years. You have to be careful because some people listen to crazy stuff that might not be your cup of tea. But people also listened to some awesome stuff that is worth the listen. I've found and re-found some great stuff on this site.
bandcamp.com- This site is a great place for totally new, budding artists. We are talking about artists that have less than 5,000 listeners and are totally new to the world of music. (Well atleast to the known world of music. They've been around, you just haven't seen them yet.) These artists are all super independent, so there are options to buy music from, and fund these new budding artists. Which is totally awesome. Support independent and local artists as much as you can. It enriches the community so much.
Well, I can't legitimately use up all of your life rambling about how much better your musical experience could be. You have to go out and make it better yourself. But if you really don't know where to find some good stuff I would love to give any help and suggestions I can.
Basically you just have to get out there and start looking. And that's the fun part! And don't be scared that you might run into some smut. If that isn't your style, just be smart, and know what to look for. Most songs will tell you if they have explicit material before you take a listen. Do it for the future of music! Do it for your poor ears!
Music is a huge reflection of who you are. Make it reflect something that is truly an image of you, not just an image of what the media says you should be.
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