Music Discovery/Where to Find Tracks

[Kwal]

just got bit by the vinyl bug, spent 50 dollars on wax already. anyone know of any good places online, other than juno?

discogs

[fatmandy]

Searching the net is very similar to digging the crates. In the old days there was a little luck, choosing the right record store and persistence. The skill to know a banger in 2 bars and then search for related artists / eps / labels. It is all about following the trails.
I love souncloud as you can start with a favourite artist and if they use the service as a music player platform they will have collected a selection of favourites. Look through these! You will often find some beauties in the same tone as the artist you love. Open the new artist in a new tab and keep digging. Each new tab is a new trail to investigate, see how deep it goes. Some days are dead ends, others are full of gold!

If you know how to dig and follow the clues all the music is there to be found, given enough time. Finding great music is a skill in itself, just as important as playing the music, mixing it and promoting yourself. If you can't dig and recognise great music then you will struggle to define your style and play unique sets that will hold your (and the crowds) attention for years to come.

[fatmandy]

Yes, mixclouds with full lists are a goldmine, i've seen a down trend in these lately though

I feel a great DJ should never be afraid to write a tracklist, in fact it is commendable and respectable. Other DJs won't often forget who told them about those must have tracks and they will return when on the hunt. Stand up and share the artists that you admire so much that you play them loud and proud! It is selfish to hoard a tracklist away, almost an injustice to those artists that boost your rep.

[1NDEX]

All my discoveries begun with www.last.fm b/c it allowed me to find similar artists (which was a big deal for me). Now I like to use the Discover funktion on Spotify, but where I really discover large quantities of good tracks is www.di.fm
- great radio channel btw !
Oh and I've almost forgot: Shazam ! Best app to find out what are you listening to right now.

[subweight]

You guys should try www.filter.dj if you haven't yet.

1,000's of free downloads that you can filter by Genre, BPM, Key etc. to get what you are after.

Worth a visit!

[ediboss96]

If anyone knows name of this song. I remember music video and its very simple, hot blonde random girl(not singer) walking in bikini on some kind of parade or some other event i am not shure what it is, but she walking in opposit direction to other people, and dancing and this is the entire video

[wesk]

I actually find myself using Spotify a lot by starting Radio on a track a like. There are always a few from the results I save. I also listen a lot to DJ-sets from my favorite DJ's and try to find the trackname on Mixcloud or mixesdb.net, and a bit of 'crate-digging' on beatport.

[HighTechnology]

getting promos of unreleased tracks from labels ... That's where i usually find most of my gems.

alright!

[antexxx]

discogs
Beatport Pro 2 app
and Soundeo (paid service, but for $20 per month i could have 600 tracks in aiff or wav format)
are my ways to go
soundcloud also very helpful sometimes

[HopeWolf]

Reading through these I won't talk about the usage of going on ''random'' play on youtube, soundcloud and mixcloud again...

Something else I found could get me new tracks is registering on a dj crew's event on facebook, going, and Shazaming. Thing is, often Shazam don't get it so if you can remember which DJ played it and something from the song like a word or position of the song in the mix, you can 1) Ask for the track ID on the facebook event page B) make new friends in the community this way

Also, I like ''Top Mixes of the Year/month/week'' or ''Top DJs of the year/month/week'' articles written by online music magazines like XLR8R, Electronic Beats, Resident Advisor or Attack Magazine ( and more... ).

Another resource is Soundcloud mixes as mentioned previously but particularly those made by local promoters / electronic music communities. This way it gives you as well a better understanding of what communities exist in your city.