We all can navigate our way around Youtube, blogs, Spotify and sites like Last.FM by now but what other sites can help you find your new favourite band? Digital looks at ten others you should know…
1. Soundcloud – It started as a highly intuitive way for bands and labels to share music with others. Thanks to its lightning fast speed and visual waveform interface, Soundcloud has become the place to catch the latest new tracks, particularly in dance and electronic circles. Try out http://player.thejackplug.com as it shows you the most popular tracks on Soundcloud.com.
2. Tuneglue – An expandable interactive spider diagram that helps you find related artists to who you search for. It’s extremely accurate and is essentially a cool visualisation of the musical landscape and its interconnectedness.
3. Grooveshark – It seems to be operating in a legal grey area but its popularity is not in question. Type in a few artists and build a streaming playlist made up of user-uploaded songs. The library is deep with plenty of remixes and full albums.
4. 14tracks.com – If underground movements and cutting-edge genres are your bag, 14tracks is perfect for you. Handpicked compilations based on themes like Scandanavian disco, cosmic soul, junglist hardcore, UK funky and loads more for about €7.50 each.
5. The Hype Machine – The daddy of the MP3 blogs. Put simply: “Every day, thousands of people around the world write about music they love, and it all ends up here.”
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If you’re an independent band trying to bring yourselves to a wider audience, hoping to organise your band’s affairs better or attempting to collaborate with other musicians, there’s a host of great websites and services out there for your needs.
Behind every good band is a good manager but many bands have to book their own gigs, make their own t-shirts and balance their own books. Bandize.com has just launched to help musicians do that and then some. It offers facilities to manage tours, merchandising, finances, tour accommodation, contact lists, recording time, import show data from Myspace and loads more. Bandize is aimed at bands who need to organise themselves better and at roughly €10 a month, it’s a bargain. A 30 free day-trial is available also for those unsure. Continue Reading..»
