I love music. I love all types of music. Song searching has become sort of a habit of mine. So as the master of the beats, I am going to share with you all the top six resources available to enhance your musical world.
1. Burn a CD
What is the best way to exchange music with a friend? Burn a mix CD. Include your old favorites, new favorites, and everything in between. You are bound to find at least one song that is your taste or you can just rock out to in the car. Yes, I mean rock out.
Throw that CD into your computer and you can burn those songs directly onto your iTunes library. There you go, free songs and a new CD: a music lovers heaven.
2. Television and Movies
Everyone needs a soundtrack to their lives. There are songs in everyone’s life that they feel narrate a person story of theirs. This is why music in television and movies is so essential.
There is nothing better than remembering a specific moment from a movie which can only be pictured with a specific song in the background. For example, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham will never be listened to without the scene from “Zoolander” replaying in my head. Use these songs that you already love because of the movie to add to your collection.
Also, never forget to use the opportunities that television has to offer when they create their own soundtrack. Some TV shows have already picked up on this trend and list the name of the song or artist at the end of the show that were played. Use these resources! A lot of television networks are also beginning to list on their websites the names of songs they play on their website such as MTV or the CW. The For all you know, you could find your next favorite song!
My new favorite is “My Girls” by Animal Collective thanks to MTV’s new show “Skins”. Now whenever I listen to the song, I enjoy it even more because I can picture the specific scene from the television show. I can’t think of anything that could get more fun that that, am I right?
3. Pandora
Pandora is another popular website that also breaks the barrios of Lightspeed. If you are at a loss for some new songs, this website shows you all of the songs you will most likely enjoy without any work. All you have to do is type in an artist or song you enjoy and this website creates its own play-list of similar songs. You are guaranteed to find at least a few new songs that you will enjoy, so take advantage.
4. Grooveshark
If you haven’t heard of Grooveshark yet, you are in for a treat. You can type in the name of any artist or song and listen to any of them: the whole song, no commercials, no previews, that means the entire song beginning to end for free. And the best part is, Grooveshark can break the barrier of Lightspeed. That means anytime you are in an intense study session at school, hop on your netbook and go onto Grooveshark and turn on that song that is stuck in your head and listen to it from start to finish for free.
Thank you Maddie Lueke for showing me this website. Thank you random student for showing Maddie and thank you Mr. Fast for showing them…
Grooveshark is where I look up some of those obscure rap songs that iTunes doesn’t even have. It’s also great for impromptu dance parties that occur on a weekly basis in the basement of Donnelly, holla.
5. Radio
Another obvious way to find music you enjoy is through the radio. I am sure that everyone has a favorite station that they listen to in the car. But do you really use your resources to enhance your musical world?
If you hear a song that you enjoy, don’t let it just pass you by. Write down the name of the song but if the radio announcers fail to say its name, do not panic. Check out the radio’s website and look up the songs recently played and you can track down which song you heard that you loved so much. If all else fails, type in all of the lyrics you can remember in Google and you are bound to find what you are looking for.
6. iTunes It Up
Okay so this one is extremely obvious. Anyone who is anyone knows what iTunes is. However, this popular program is not only perfect to buy your music but to narrow your search in any way possible including genre, artist, song, album. When I personally feel that my oldies collection needs a little updating, I like to go on the archives and check out the Billboard Top 100 from the past couple decades. Trust me, I have found some songs people forgot were even popular which adds a little flavor to my collection.
I don’t just go onto iTunes for my oldies hits but to stay hip and up-to-date with what all the teens are listening to. I occasionally look at the top 10 current song list on the right side bar to make sure I am not completely out of the loop on what Ke$ha song is popular this week.
Give me your feedback: What is your favorite way to find new songs? Which of these methods have you found more useful? Are there any other methods or websites that exist that are great to find new music?
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