i really feel like these days i have basically an infinite well of music to draw from. but i also remember i did not always feel this way! so i thought i would share how i listen to music these days if anyone else is struggling to find stuff. it's a little biased towards dance music since that's what i listen to, but i think it's mostly applicable regardless of what you like.
NTS / rinse.fm
the two best internet radio stations with thousands of backlogged mixes and shows. honestly you could stop here. if you listened to NTS and rinse.fm exclusively you would have a very varied and high quality musical diet.
HD Mixtapes / The Mixtape Archive / Mixtape Magic
youtube channels that upload tape rips of old mixtapes. if you like dance music, this is the gold mine - here's a couple favs if you need a place to get started.
EDIT: if you want even more youtube channels to follow, check out this post.
bandcamp
everybody knows about bandcamp, right? there's some good stuff on here. the best if you want to listen to stuff that's coming out right now.rym / discogs / last.fm
found something you like and wanna find more like it? here's where you can stalk other users who listen to the same stuff to find out what else they like.
i touched on this in my post about how you should play games from places other than steam, but the same is true of music: listening to music from places other than streaming services and exploring musical connections by yourself or with the help of a DJ will give you a way more fruitful and meaningful relationship with music than handing your ears over to an algorithm. give it a shot!
one more really good avenue for music discovery i neglected to mention - interviews !! a good interview with an artist will often have them namedropping twelve other threads to pull at. very rewarding form of exploration.
