Finding new music and updating your iTunes library can be tedious and time-consuming. Pre-made radio stations and playlists found on sites like Pandora and 8tracks are always good alternatives to the radio, but they have their limits. Pandora doesn’t allow access to specific songs on demand, and 8tracks doesn’t allow access to full track lists unless you listen to a full playlist. And then there are the music blogs and YouTube channels, which are so numerous that differentiating between them can feel almost impossible and overwhelming. These places will keep you up with the trends and make you look cool because you heard that song before it was famous.
The Hype Machine takes the iTunes top singles chart to a whole new level. While the singles chart tracks radio plays, the Hype Machine does that and more. Their top singles chart is based on songs trending in various music blogs. It’s almost like the Twitter of music blogs because the list is constantly changing to follow the most recent trends so you’ll always have new music to discover.
This music blog is essentially Pitchfork before it was cool. Referred to as “the New Yorker of hipster blogs” by The Daily Northwestern, you can find anything and everything that is musically fantastic on this blog before it goes mainstream. Go on it now, and be the first to discover new music before someone else does.
3. TheSoundYouNeed and Majestic Casual
These YouTube channels are holy grails for all things chill and lounge-worthy. Both channels let you organize their songs by recent uploads and popular tracks. Although these channels run independently from each other, they both promote lesser-known artists who produce quality music and feature a developing musical genre called chillstep.
As an NPR-affiliated music blog, The Needle Drop reviews and promotes new music in the rock, pop, electronic and experimental music scenes. If you’re looking for some really underground and new music accompanied with quality reviews, check it out.
Another YouTube channel, MrSuicideSheep also consists of playlists and features new music from a wide range of artists. Although this channel features mainly electronic music, MrSuicideSheep highlights the different sub-genres of electronic music, so there is always something new to find.
StudyMusicProject is exactly what it sounds like. Unlike the other YouTube channels, StudyMusicProject features all original instrumental pieces composed by Dennis Kuo and designed to enhance your concentration and studying abilities. This channel includes playlists categorized by study time and coffee breaks so if you need some new study music, look no further.