How do you find out about music? Me, I primarily use the internet via various websites (YouTube, Wikipedia, last.fm, etc) to listen to and discover new bands. Doing this myself is quite convenient. I can stop the music or X out of band web-pages that I don’t particularly enjoy. With the radio, on the other hand, you have very little choice. The stations may allow you to request a song or two, but for the most part songs are pre-selected. That way, you are almost forced to like whatever they play. I find that the people who are predisposed to KISS 108 and JAMN 945 often become immediately attached to the songs that are played. These “club anthems” stick with them, but do any of these listeners actually go online, do research, buy albums, and most importantly listen to more songs other than the hits? Even with independent radio stations like WERS, I suspect the average listener doesn’t log onto wers.org and look up playlists. Personally I get the vibe that the DIY approach that I often take makes me like a song for a longer period of time. Good songs don’t just disappear after they’ve had their “time” on the radio; they become apart of my regular, personalized playlist.
The biggest way I discover new artists is the most old fashion way: word of mouth. Just looking at my top five “new” bands, all of them came as a result of a simple conversation that goes a little something like this:
Friend/Acquaintance: Have you heard of the band, ” ”
Me: No, I’ll check them out.
And usually I do.