Navigate
X
    Mark Glaser
  • 14 years ago
    • Categories: Uncategorized

How do you find out about good music?

It used to be that we relied on commercial radio to hear new music by artists we like. But with stale formats and ever-more advertisements, FM radio is losing its allure. Now we can subscribe to and download podcasts or listen to millions of Internet radio stations or pay for satellite radio. Amazon and other online stores suggest artists based on what we’ve bought in the past. There are music blogs and music-swapping sites to help us even more. So how do you find out about good music? From friends? From particular websites? From commercial radio playlists? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and I’ll feature the best ones in next week’s Your Take Roundup.

Mark Glaser :Mark Glaser is founder and executive director of MediaShift. He contributes regularly to Digital Content Next’s InContext site and newsletter. Glaser is a longtime freelance journalist whose career includes columns on hip-hop, reviews of videogames, travel stories, and humor columns that poked fun at the titans of technology. From 2001 to 2005, he wrote a weekly column for USC Annenberg School of Communication's Online Journalism Review. Glaser has written essays for Harvard's Nieman Reports and the website for the Yale Center for Globalization. Glaser has written columns on the Internet and technology for the Los Angeles Times, CNET and HotWired, and has written features for the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Entertainment Weekly, the San Jose Mercury News, and many other publications. He was the lead writer for the Industry Standard's award-winning "Media Grok" daily email newsletter during the dot-com heyday, and was named a finalist for a 2004 Online Journalism Award in the Online Commentary category for his OJR column. Glaser won the Innovation Journalism Award in 2010 from the Stanford Center for Innovation and Communication. Glaser received a Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Missouri at Columbia, and currently lives in San Francisco with his wife Renee and his two sons, Julian and Everett. Glaser has been a guest on PBS' "Newshour," NPR's "Talk of the Nation," KALW's "Media Roundtable" and TechTV's "Silicon Spin." He has given keynote speeches at Independent Television Service's (ITVS) Diversity Retreat and the College Media Assocation's national convention. He has been part of the lecture/concert series at Yale Law School and Arkansas State University, and has moderated many industry panels. He spoke in May 2013 to the Maui Business Brainstormers about the "Digital Media Revolution." To inquire about speaking opportunities, please use the site's Contact Form.

View Comments (24)

  • I have found that there are a growing number of websites and newsletters that discuss and critique various genres of music. Subscribing to one or more in the genres you enjoy will generally supply you with weekly or monthly updates, reviews and the latest music.

    For instance, I'm a fan of electronic and DJ music, and a monthly newsletter called earplug (www.earplug.cc) generally gets me to add one or two new CDs to my collection, most of which I really enjoy, especially with the added background provided by the review.

  • In addition to everything other folks have named above, I've really been enjoying Napster's new "free preview" feature lately. They have a huge library, it's free and it's simple. So much better than the 30 second clips.

  • Most of the good music I have purchased lately comes from NPR. They often review music that I enjoy ... but the best source on NPR is to look at the show logs that reveal the names of songs they play between news segments.

    Other good sources:

    • Last.fm
    • Pandora
    • VH1
    • Wolfgang's Vault

    Many years ago, there was a site known as mp3.com that provided thousands of tracks from bands you've never heard of. Unfortunatley, the owners of that site succumbed to money filthy lucre. Now, it's just another download site.

  • I HAVE XM BUT STILL YOU CAN'T BEAT THE SOUND OF LOCAL FM RADIO ON YOUR RECEIVER, YES XM HAS DIVERSITY YOU CAN'T KNOCK THAT, BUT MY EXPERIENCE SO FAR HAS BEEN SO-SO WITH XM RECEPTION.GUESS IF XM COMES OUT WITH BETTER RECEPTION MORE CD QUALITY SOUND I MEAN YOU'LL HAVE TO SHELL OUT MORE MONEY FOR XM SERVICE. YES FM RADIO IS MUNDANE BUT IT PACKS MORE OF A DYNAMIC SOUND THAN XM AND THEIR DINKY PLUG AND PLAY UNITS.

  • I feed my PC about 10 tracks a day on average, mostly through MP3 blogs like Soul Sides.

    The procedure goes like this:
    1. Surf sites at work and tag specific MP3 files as "adrock1999cast" via del.icio.us

    2. Convert the del.icio.us RSS feed into a podcast using Feedburner
    (I only had to do this once)

    3. Paste this Feedburner link into iTunes as a podcast (again, only once)

    4. All the music I find at work is magically downloaded to my home PC and then my iPod!

  • Good music... Well, I rarely find good music. Alot of good music finds me. As an owner of a couple of internet radio stations, I am sought out by indie bands, artists, promoters, etc.. just trying to get heard. From networking on myspace, I run into alot of new bands that are simply awesome.

    I rarely listen to regular radio anymore. Morning shows really, and the drive home from work. Thats about my exposure to it. If you really want to find good music, attend a live performance. See who's also on the bill. They are still unspoiled by deadlines and contracts. They have a clear message usually, and 80% of the album will have sincerity. It's their magnum opus.

    Sincerity, I believe, is what makes music 'good'. It's the culmination of an unspoiled artistic impression. You will rarely see that in commercial radio. You have to look beyond it. If you stick to that, you will always find 'good' music, regardless of genre.

  • An interesting question, but one that has a parallel on the other side of the fence

    As an artist, how do you get people to find your music? Particularly if you are not signed. To be honest, I expect anyone reading this to assume I am link whoring - and in some ways you would be right, but have you any idea how hard it is to get music out there for people to listen to?

    Its a shame, but the self referencing blogosphere is as hard a nut to crack as the jaded A&R types in the industry.

    Id appreciate any ideas.

    blatant whoring link: http://ukchill.wordpress.com

  • Well, I'd say part of the problem with finding "good music" at least from listeners is that too many people want to be "spoonfed" entertainment ala American Idol. They've become far too perfectionistic, far too jaded and arent' willing to give those artists who are 'off the grid' a chance. It doesn't help matters that so many jaded people in the music business aren't passionate about music, it's all about the corporate suits going for the almighty dollar...so they'll put up formualic McMusic 'created' on pro-tools as long as that it sells! No one wants to take a chance on originality or creativity. It's truly a shame. I'd say it's time for folks to stop being lazy, get off thattreadmill, think for themselves and maybe give some of those some of the "raw" but still original talents a chance. They may find themselves pleasantly surprised!

Comments are closed.

    Related Post
  1. MediaShift Launches New Peer Group Trainings for Publishers

    We know that our MediaShift community likes learning new things. That's why we have always…

  2. 5 Key Points for Journalism Educators Who Want to Teach Online

    If you’re transitioning to teaching students online, then you’re possibly in one of two camps:…

  3. Why Texas State’s Digital Media Degree is Attracting Female Students

    One year ago, I wrote an article for MediaShift about our new undergraduate degree in…