I know the question is rather awkward at first and I am possibly overlooking something, but I would like to know something I really don’t understand.
In the past I have used modified versions of Spotify and they are fine but obviously no modified version allows you to download songs because it is a premium function at server level and honestly I would like to have my songs on my device, so if I don’t have internet I can still listen to them.
After those modified versions of Spotify, I have used apps like ViMusic, Spotube and SimpMusic which are basically Youtube Music apps but without ads and with more features, including downloading music, the problem is that they do that at the level of the app itself, not in a separate file. And I love these apps and I can not recommend them enough but my phone is a little old and I see 0 need to change it since I use it for basics usage and although this can sound dumb the interface of these apps are full of blur and unnecessary effects that make my device slow, including Spotify, and I don’t like Spotify Lite because I feel it is a very trimmed version of Spotify.
So this is where my question comes in, for those who exclusively download music, how do you discover new songs? Spotify’s recommendation system is great and Youtube’s radio mode is very good but obviously I need to use Spotify or Youtube Music to use it and I prefer to use light apps for local playback because of what I already mentioned.
Edit: Thanks for all the recommendations! I never thought this post would get so many answers and there are too many comments to answer one by one, but I admit that the old-school method of reading blogs or magazines works well, and I also like the idea of sites like Last.fm or discogs.
NPR New Music Friday is helpful a lot of the time
Great topic. A lot of my discovery was through /r/listentothis, but I’m 100% off reddit now, so these recommendations are helpful.
i really wish there were an alternative to that sub in lemmy
Be the change! On a real note though, I feel your pain.
There is, but it’s not very active at all.
I use last.fm to track the songs i am listening to and ot gives spotify like recommendations and monthly statistics on what kind of music you listen to,top artist etc.
I follow a few blogs/sites that review the music genres that I like. I also read and comment in the tracker’s forums, where people suggest new music or discuss about new and old music. And I found that it’s much better than getting suggestions on spotify/tidal.
I don’t think I’m pirating since I’m not reuploading, but I’m downloading Spotify playlists using Spotdl. So, I find music using Spotify.
Mainly local radio broadcasts, sometimes thematic webradios such as Radio Metal. Recently I’ve been linking my music player to LastFM so we’ll see how it performs.
Mainly local radio broadcasts,
I’m guessing you’re not in the US? 'Cause here nearly everyone is owned by Clear Channel/iHeartMedia. Nothing of value is being discovered there.
I thought there would at least be local community radios held by associations in the US. The way you’re describing this we’ve got pretty much the same situation in France where all the mainstream radios are owned by one of the few media groups, but that doesn’t stop local community radios from broadcasting for more than 50 years for some of them.
Well look at that, there are some in the US - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_radio_stations_in_the_United_States
Back when I was on both what.cd and waffles, the free leech periods were great. I discovered a few artists I really enjoyed after. Months after even. Bored, going through gigs of tunes browsing, a few just hit. Even found myself interested in genres I ‘wasn’t into’.
I usually listen to the radio, or let ViMusic (YouTube music algorithm) recommend me songs. Then I use yt-dlp (Seal app on F-Droid) to download them.
I can’t believe there’s not more love for Seal in this thread.
Thank you for this. Usually I go to my universities’ underground radio station but this works just as well :)
listen to college/indie radio and follow their playlists.
KUOM KCPR WFMU
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Google searches for open directories. One dude found an RIAA directory full of media, but it quickly got secured.
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YouTube
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Ringtone sites
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Asian (Indian) sites, with heavy use of Google translate.
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Listen to the internet stations that are local to you, and have actual programmers daily. Some of the bigger ones in the US are KCRW, KEXP, WFMU, and any college radio station. Places that have guest bands come through and play a bit so you can hear how it sounds outside of a studio are the best in my opinion.
Got my KEXP bank card. Gotta rep the best.
I use the ReVanced version of YouTube Music (no ads, high quality music). If I find a song that I like, I download it in FLAC format from one of the sites in the megathread
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YouTube suggested playlist
