Think today's music sucks? Here's how to find new music

If I had a dollar for every time someone said "I'm bringing real music back"... I'd have about 20 dollars.  Meager accumulation of funds aside, I do hear a lot of complaints about radio music sucks, how Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and a slew of other today's artist don't sing, have crappy music and are just cookie cutter cronies.  However, I'd like to point out that many of these artists are selling millions of singles, so someone must like it, which is their signal to keep doing this, because if it ain't broke don't fix it.  Okay, that's the last cliche, I promise.  I agree it makes it hard to find new music and find music that's innovative.

I'd like to hearken back to the 18th century, J.S. Bach has just completed the Minuet in C minor for harpsichord, and point out that the simple fact of calling it a "Minuet", a name used in hundreds of works, let's you know that there are rules and a structure.  There was even a dance that went along to the minuet, in the same exact way that a DJ enjoys spinning songs that people can easily dance to and are easy to put into their mix.

My point is that music has almost always been about a specific structure.  The greatest composers create unexpected turns out of an expected set of foundations.  The most talented can make a song both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time to give the listener what they want and also had no idea it existed.  It's the juxtaposition of those emotions delivered aurally that pleases an audience, which is why so much mainstream music sounds alike.  Their audience is in millions, so their goal is to be able to be absorbed by the general public.  

So, if you feel that today's radio music is crap and you're tired of listening to your stale iTunes library, but don't know how to find new music.  Try these things out, and quit your bellyaching of how much today's music sucks... LOL!

iTunes 8 Genius - Right click a song in your iTunes library and pick Start Genius

The Filter - Go to http://www.thefilter.com which uses a music algorithm to find you new stuff

Shazam it - 3. Download Shazam for your phone, if you hear something you like, Shazam it and look at "Recommendations"

Awdio - 4. Go to Awdio.com which will let you stream music from clubs, and tag what you like.  

SoundCloud - Open a SoundCloud account and let them bring you music from artists all over the world based upon other artists you like.

HypeMachine - This site crawl's the blogosphere finding all types of little music nuggets you've never heard of before.