The amount of recorded music that exists in the world is mind-boggling. Even with the limited scope of contemporary rock, pop, country and hip-hop, sorting through all of it would take a lifetime, three quarters of which would be wasted on awful material.
With the increased accessibility of music thanks to new technology, the real problem is finding what’s worth your time. Nearly every media source has something different to say and its own opinions to broadcast.
Television is an easy place to look, but it’s usually not the best. Channels such as MTV and VH1 have been “about the music” for several decades now, but in recent years the only thing that qualifies MTV as “Music Television” is its use of melodramatic pop songs during particularly emotional scenes of “Laguna Beach.” Fuse and mtvU have more to offer, because they actually show music videos, and, every so often, a decent indie artist like Band of Horses or Madvillain will sneak into the lineup. Occasionally, a band like Death Cab for Cutie or Sufjan Stevens will sneak onto “The O.C.”, but despite the occasional indie handout, most of what you get on television is mainstream, songs that the networks know will make them money.
A better bet is to hit the music section of your local magazine stand. Music magazines offer a much broader range of artists to discover, but there is also the problem of which magazine to choose and the obvious inability to hear what the bands sound like through its pages. Rolling Stone covers a fair amount of mainstream releases but ignores all but the most conventional or buzz-worthy indie records. Filter focuses on the conventional, melody-based spectrum of indie music. Urb is all about hip-hop, but rarely pays attention to its more experimental facets. Arthur covers artists no other publication does, but also gives the spotlight to bands that don’t necessarily deserve it. If you can find a magazine with a musical preference identical to your own, you’re golden; but, if you’re like me, part of the joy is discovering new styles.
What is, in my opinion, the best place to find new music is the Internet. However, it can also be the most daunting. In addition to the bigger music criticism Web sites like Pitchfork and All Music Guide, there are thousands of music blogs, some of which are updated multiple times a day. The offer of free song downloads from these Web sites is easily their best feature, but the decision to choose 10 blogs out of 10,000 to visit frequently is a difficult choice indeed.
Because there are so many bloggers out there, all advertising their own favorite groups and styles, the average browser has an endless amount of music (most of which is worth listening to) right at his or her fingertips. All that’s really necessary to get the most from these blogs is to spend 10 minutes clicking from blog to blog and downloading every song you see. From there, make a playlist of the songs and put them on while you’re doing homework, reading, hanging out with friends, or you just want to relax. You’re bound to come across two or three artists you really like and want to pursue, and the music you don’t like didn’t cost you a thing.
This way, there is no longer any middleman between you and the music; you find your own favorite groups from a random portion of what the Internet has to offer and, when you’re sick of what you have, you can do it all again.
Duhamel wrote this to console himself over his hard drive going up in flames. E-mail him at dduhamel@media.ucla.edu.