Only ten years ago, discovering new music meant waiting for the advice of a friend, listening to traditional radio in the hope of finding an interesting song, or following the charts on television and the specialized press. Today this work is carried out by the algorithms of the platforms. streaming Musicals: they have the task of analyzing our listening habits, anticipating our tastes and recommending songs suitable for us. Spotify, YouTube Music and Apple Music are three of the most important and used, and they all have specific functions that help you discover new music.
Spotify: Personalized playlists and DJ AI
Nearly 700 million people use it Spotify every month and, of these, approximately 275 million are subscribers prize; That is, they pay to listen without advertising, with higher quality or with additional features. The platform has a catalog of more than 100 million songs and, every Monday, offers a personalized playlist of about 30 songs that you’ve never heard before, but that the algorithm thinks you’ll like. This function, which is called Discover weekly —weekly discovery, in English—, you can also help them a little to give their right advice, choosing from one to five genres that you like from their options.
Besides, Spotify also has other functions like Release the radara list that updates every Friday and groups together new releases from the artists you follow mixed with some similar suggestions; OR Daily blend: Thematic playlists that combine what you already know with related news and grouped by genre or mood. Its most amazing and recent feature to help discover music is DJ with artificial intelligence (or AI DJ), which uses artificial intelligence to become a personal listening guide, mixing familiar songs with new ones and offering introductory comments.
And for those who want to improve its recommendations, the platform suggests pressing the “Like” button on new songs you like, following artists you like, and avoiding activating the private session while browsing its extensive catalog, since this way the algorithm does not learn from your activity.
TIDAL: the alternative
If you are one of those users who are switching to TIDAL due to the various controversies surrounding Spotify (military contracts, verified bands generated by artificial intelligence, price increases or recruitment announcements from ICE, the agency in charge of carrying out the
Donald Trump of mass arrests and deportations) or Android app errors, know that the platform offers numerous options for discovering new artists, whose songs are played with high-fidelity audio. For example, it automatically generates playlists based on habits: My Mix, a constantly updated mix of artists you already listen to along with like-minded others; My Daily Discovery, a daily list focused on new artists and songs you haven’t played yet but that fit your sound profile; and My New Arrivals, which collects recent releases from artists you follow or listen to frequently.
On the other hand, it offers to explore by genre or thematic categories to discover lists curated by the TIDAL editorial team instead of depending exclusively on algorithms, and also allows the use of recommendations based on artificial intelligence: after each list or album, the system proposes similar songs or invites you to explore stations that generate an infinite sequence of related topics. There is also a space reserved for promoting new artists from different genres and regions (TIDAL Rising) and a new releases section that is updated weekly with the latest albums and singles. And when a playlist or album ends, the autoplay feature continues playing music with similar themes, a natural way to discover new artists without actively searching.
YouTube Music: Daily Radio and Discoveries
YouTube Music It combines both official music and covers, live performances or remixes, since it is a service connected to YouTube. Among its possibilities is to start a radio based on an artist or a song, and the platform will generate an infinite sequence of similar songs. To improve this, you can adjust options like how much you want known or unknown songs to appear, or whether you prefer maximum variety of artists over a more limited repertoire. Some radios even allow you to enter “discovery mode”, giving priority to songs you’ve never heard before.
Furthermore, in the same year, YouTube Music launched the section Your daily discoverywhich offers personalized recommendations every day and is testing artificial intelligence features (currently only available in the US and only to certain users).
Apple Music: Discovery Station and your station
If every time you listen to a new song that you really like Apple Musin short, you add it to your favorites or press the “Recommend less” button when you don’t want to listen to it again, the algorithm will be more accurate with its recommendations. To find them more manually, you can click on the ‘Explore’ tab and choose curated playlists based on genres, moods or trends (there are lists of the most listened to in your city, country or in the world). Furthermore, in the section Listen now Recommendations appear based on your history, whether there are new releases, or recommendations based on what you listen to regularly.
Furthermore, in this section there is a Discovery station within the “Stations for you” option, where there are songs that are not in your library and that you might like. It is continuously updated and has an unlimited duration. This is different from “Your Station,” where songs you already know are mixed in with new suggestions.
