The number one music-related question that I get from my friends is, "How do you discover new music?" So, in response to that, and given my original mission for STÉLOMANE – to help the world discover new sounds – I decided to write this blog post. One of my main vehicles to finding new music is the music steaming service Spotify. Here are some tips and a quick guide (with GIFs!) on the features I use on Spotify to discover new music.
Playlists
Discover Weekly
The Discover Weekly playlist is Spotify's genius flagship feature: a playlist designed just for you. It updates every Monday, with 30 new tracks based on your listening history. To make things even sweeter, Spotify customizes the album cover with your Facebook profile picture. You can find this playlist in the main navigation under 'Browse.' Click the 'Discover' tab, and you should see the playlist under 'Top Recommendations for You.'
Using Browse
The 'Browse' tab under Spotify's main navigation offers a lot more than just the Discover Weekly playlist. I love this section because its range of choices and unique playlist titles.
There are 5 tabs in 'Browse':
- Overview: Includes relevant playlists to date, and quick access to 'Genres & Moods.'
- Charts: See the top charts, by country.
- Genres & Moods: As of now, there 34 of them ranging from 'Party' to 'Focus' to 'Travel.'
- New Releases: A continuously updated list of Spotify's newest albums.
- Discover: See your 'Top Recommendations for You,' 'New Releases for You,' and additional artist and album suggestions based on your listening history.
'Browse' will likely be your central spot for music discovery. Although it is overwhelmingly packed with options, you're bound to hear something new using 'Browse.'
8 of 34 of Spotify's 'Genres & Moods.'
Using Search
Say, for instance, you want to find some new, spooky Halloween-themed music. Just type in "Halloween" in the search bar, and click on 'Playlists.'
From 'Search,' you'll find both Spotify-created and public user-generated playlists – you have access to the public playlists of over 75 million Spotify users.
Artist Playlists
One little known way to discover new music is to listen to the playlists created by your favorite artists themselves. And oftentimes, you'll discover their music influences, which I think is a pretty neat way to hear something new.
Simply scroll down an artist's profile page. I've shown examples of artist playlists by The Weeknd, Disclosure, BANKS, and KAASI below.
Collaborative Playlists
Ever wanted to share your favorite songs with your friends? Spotify's nifty, collaborative playlists feature makes it easy to do just that. Right-click on your playlist and select 'Collaborative Playlist.' I've found that this is a lot easier than sending individual songs to friends (which you can also do by right-clicking and hitting "share").
As you can see above, once you make a playlist collaborative, Spotify will display which user added the song to the playlist.
'Appears On'
Below 'Artist Playlists' on your selected artist's profile, you might see Spotify's 'Appears On' section. This is a list of other, non artist-published albums where your selected artist has appeared.
These albums are typically compilation albums, or albums that feature your artist's collaborations with other artists.
Radio
In addition to playlists, you can use Spotify as a song or artist radio. Below, I've shown you how to create an artist radio, but creating song radios is no different. While Pandora, whose sole offering at the moment is radio, only allows a certain number of song skips per hours, Spotify allows you to skip as many songs as you'd like.
Click on the 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' icon to improve your radio station. Hitting the 'thumbs up' icon will add that song to your "Liked from Radio" playlist, which Spotify automatically creates.
Related Artists
Check out the 'Related Artists' feature to discover artists similar to your favorite ones. You can do this by clicking on the artist's name and viewing the 'Related Artists' sidebar, or by clicking on the 'Related Artists' tab for a wider selection.
Friend Feed
With Spotify's Friend Feed, you'll be able to see what the people you follow – both friends and artists – are listening to in real-time.
A lot of artists nowadays use Spotify to both publish and listen to music, so some of the artists that you follow may also pop up on your Friend Feed. As with Artist Playlists, this is another way to find out your favorite artists' musical inspirations.
To activate this feature, connect Spotify to your Facebook (for Mac users, go to the 'Spotify' menu, and click on 'Preferences'). Once you add friends, follow their profile.
ProTip: If you know a friend's Spotify username, type in "spotify:user:[insert username here]" to find them.
Notifications
Once you start "following" artists and playlists, you'll start receiving notifications about new releases, as well as updates and song additions to playlists. For Mac users, notifications will pop up on both your dock as well as the Spotify application.
Follow Brands
Another lesser-known way of finding music on Spotify is by following brands. I've noticed that a lot of brands haven't really publicized their Spotify profiles, so it might just takes some exploring on your part. Just use the Search function and look under 'Profiles' to find and follow your favorite company or brand.
To give you a few ideas, here are some brands by category:
- Fashion: Urban Outfitters, H&M, VOGUE Germany
- Food & Drink: McDonald's, Starbucks, sweetgreen
- Music Festivals: Coachella, HARD, Lollapalooza Brasil
- Media: Refinery29, Entertainment Weekly, NYTimes
- Sports: EA SPORTS Madden NFL, FIFA, NBA LIVE
- TV & Entertainment: SNL, Bravo, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
