I would like for The Fire Tonight to be prolific enough for me to delusionally consider us the only new music you’ll ever need. The delusions will have to wait for another day though.
After getting into a very interesting discussion about the process of discovering new music with both with members of The Restoration and The Fire Tonight I decided to let you know where I go for new music. In addition to recommendations from friends I consistently go to three websites.
1) OurStage.com - The site operates much like a giant battle of the bands that takes place over the course of each month and across a great list of genres. You get to be the battle of the bands judge though. So in addition to discovering new music as you go you also get to wield your voting power to help music you like and give a lower rating to music you dislike. You do have to dig in deep to find the true gems though as the tops of the charts don’t usually have the most original tunes. If you join up let them know we referred you! (The Fire Tonight on OurStage)
2. TheSixtyOne.com - I would try to explain how this site operates but I don’t understand it. There are hearts, “rep”, listens, goals, friends and clubs and I’m not sure what they all do. However, it is a site full of people who love to discover creative, original new music and the users votes (or hearts) decide what is displayed on the homepage. As opposed to OurStage where you have to dig a little you get crazy stuff right off the bat here. Again, drop us a heart or two if you decide to join! (The Fire Tonight on TheSixtyOne)
3. ObscureSound.com - This is the only music blog that I regularly check. I’m sure there are some other good ones out there but this guy seems to hit the nail on the head just about every time. He covers a range of genres but always seems to find solid groups. Plus, you get free streaming of a handful of mp3s for every band and, usually, the option to download those songs.
Of course there are some other things I do to listen to music like Hype Machine’s end of the year “zeitgeist” lists but not regularly like the first three. Anyway, enough about how I discover new music. How do you discover new music? Discovered any gems recently? Please share!
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