If you’re feeling out of touch with the latest music releases and want to get back in the loop, we’re here to assist you. Of course, it can be disheartening to miss out on the latest tracks from popular artists or be unable to secure tickets for a highly anticipated concert.
It’s natural to want to stay on top of the newest music trends, whether it’s a new chart-topping song, a buzz-worthy album, or the breakout artist everyone’s talking about. After all, incorporating new and fresh music into your life can positively impact your emotional state and overall health.
Many individuals view listening to music as a form of therapy, allowing the body to unwind and experience more pleasure and happiness. Therefore, it is essential to devote some time to discovering new music. Perhaps today, you may come across your new favorite song. With that in mind, here is a list of ways to help you stay up-to-date with new music releases from your favorite bands or artists with little to no effort!
Radio
There is no doubt that starting your day by turning on the radio is an easy way to stay up-to-date with new music and releases from your favorite artists. Research suggests that this morning routine can alter your perspectives and uplift your spirits for the day ahead. Moreover, tuning into the radio frequently allows you to discover new songs you have never heard before.
Even lesser-known artists submit their newest songs to radio stations, providing a platform for their work to be discovered. By tuning in to a particular radio station, you can rest assured that you will receive regular updates on the latest releases.
Typically, it is advantageous for radio stations to remain current on the latest trends to maintain listener engagement. In fact, many radio stations even offer a designated program featuring the top trending songs and the latest tracks that can be followed. Such programs are scheduled every week.
So, start your early morning routine by indulging in a freshly brewed cup of coffee and tuning in to the radio. That way, you will be amongst the privileged few to discover and stay up-to-date with new music releases.
Music Websites and Blogs
Seeing how many individuals worldwide have an immense passion and drive to discover new music is astounding. This passion has driven them to create their own blogs or websites devoted to their favorite tunes.
Interestingly enough, if a blogger acquires a significant popularity level, popular artists may sometimes send them their latest releases for reviews and recommendations.
Due to this, you might stumble upon a plethora of bloggers who share similar music preferences and uncover fresh releases. So, if you are keen on discovering such websites and blogs, feel free to browse the internet. Gradually, over time, you will find ones that align with your taste and begin to track them to stay abreast of the most recent updates.
Social Media
Another effective method for staying up-to-date with new music releases is following artists and music-related individuals on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. In addition to following musicians, users can stay updated on music news, bloggers, and critics. Furthermore, users can explore various social media groups dedicated to sharing music recommendations and discoveries.
Hence, it may be worthwhile to contemplate becoming a part of those collectives. Of all the social media platforms available, YouTube holds the most advantages. On this platform, you can subscribe to your preferred artists and other channels that showcase music that piques your curiosity. What adds to its allure is that YouTube employs a mechanism to propose comparable videos to users, enabling them to unearth and explore new music as they go along.
Streaming Services
Streaming services are excellent starting points and sources to stay up-to-date with new music releases. Artists heavily rely on these platforms to distribute their songs; therefore, cooperation with them is expected. Notably, new music releases typically occur on Fridays, and streaming services list them, adding them to various playlists.
This feature is particularly beneficial for individuals searching specific genres of music. Regularly checking designated playlists can unveil fresh music discoveries. It is also worth noting that streaming services create personalized playlists for users, including new songs and other recommended tracks carefully chosen for each user.
Moreover, artists themselves highlight their new song releases on their streaming service profiles and make their entire music catalog accessible for users to track their favorite songs with ease. On that note, here are a few streaming services you can try:
YouTube Music
YouTube Music serves as a music streaming alternative to YouTube, complete with a vast collection of both music and video selections and commendable sound quality. In addition to the standard plans tailored towards individuals, students, and families, YouTube Music also offers a range of attractive free plan features for those looking to manage their monthly expenses.
What sets YouTube Music apart from other streaming services is its array of benefits that accompany the free plan, including unrestricted access to new music content, infinite song skips, on-demand playback (featuring advertisements), and the ability to bypass ads – this exclusive feature is not available on any other platform.
With an 80 million songs catalog, YouTube Music is a competitive source of musical content. It provides well-curated segments for new releases, official charts, and mood-based playlists. What distinguishes the app is its extensive range of unofficial or unreleased music, which is accessible to the users.
You can add tracks like mash-ups, covers, remixes, and even hard-to-find OSTs, enhancing the app’s allure. YouTube Music also delivers an ample share of video content. While playing a song, the correlated music video will automatically appear if available. The same goes for live performances and concert tracks. Don’t worry; you can cast it on your TV if you love it or turn off the feature if you don’t like it.
Due to its similar interface, individuals who use YouTube shouldn’t encounter any difficulties when familiarizing themselves with the YouTube Music application. Nonetheless, the latter lacks certain intuitive aspects. For example, the shuffle function frequently replays songs in a specific order, and there is no sorting feature accessible to rearrange the sequence of tracks or artists within playlists. That said, it is an excellent streaming app for staying up-to-date with new music releases.
Pandora
Pandora caters more to those who enjoy music casually, love listening to podcasts, or enjoy radio programs. Its music library is impressive, and it offers excellent audio quality and a remarkable feature that enables music discovery. As it used to be an internet radio service before, it boasts a plethora of radio stations and podcasts, making it an ideal choice for content lovers of that type.
Besides the free package, Pandora offers five paid plans. Pricing for the Individual, Student, and Family plans is standard, but the Military plan costs slightly more than comparable plans from Tidal. Pandora also provides a Plus plan with a budget-friendly way to access Premium features. This selection gives you access to all content (with ads) for a slightly reduced price.
In terms of its music offerings, Pandora possesses a comprehensive music collection that is quite satisfactory. Partnering with major players such as Warner Music and UMG allows Pandora to provide a significant selection of popular mainstream music.
Additionally, through its partnership with indie distributor Merlin, listeners can expect to discover and enjoy niche genres. Pandora’s extensive collection of curated playlists makes it easy to find music for any genre, mood, or activity, with 57 diverse stations available to listen to continuously.
However, the most outstanding feature lies in its vast collection of podcasts comparable to that of Spotify. This collection includes various topics and exclusive shows like “Marvel’s Wastelanders: Black Widow” and “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” to name a few.
As far as Pandora’s interface is concerned, there is some room for improvement. The functionality can become repetitive in various parts of the app, such as having the sharing and downloading prompts repeatedly appear in the “Now Playing” and “More” options. This can sometimes confuse new users.
Nonetheless, Pandora compensates for this with its impressive music discovery capabilities. It utilizes an AI system, The Music Genome Project, to analyze over 400 musical characteristics of your most enjoyed tunes, including mood, instruments, tone, and vocals. As a result, Pandora can offer highly accurate music suggestions, allowing you to stay up-to-date with new music releases with a few mouse clicks.
Tidal
Tidal is a highly regarded music app that includes an expansive selection of music and videos and offers a range of discounted plans to meet your needs. Tidal prides itself on providing audiophiles with superb hi-res audio quality, making it an excellent option when it comes to staying up-to-date with new music releases.
You can select from two subscription types, namely HiFi and HiFi Plus. These come in different options, such as Individual, Student, Family, Military, and First Responder plans. While the pricing for all HiFi plans is comparable to rival streaming services, the HiFi Plus plans are more expensive due to their inclusion of 360 Reality Audio, Dolby Atmos Music, and hi-res Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) tracks.
Nonetheless, Tidal practices direct artist payouts whereby up to 10% of your monthly fee will be distributed to the artists you listen to the most.
Tidal boasts an extensive content library, including over 350,000 videos and 90 million songs from both independent and mainstream artists. The platform’s Hip-hop section is particularly comprehensive, offering numerous playlists that delve into the genre’s history and creators.
Tidal’s clean and functional design contains a stationary search bar and a customizable sidebar to aid navigation. Detailed menus and drag-and-drop functionality make managing content a breeze, while audio quality settings can be changed directly from the ‘Now Playing’ screen.
Tidal’s recommendations are primarily driven by human curation, as evidenced by their in-depth playlisting and personalized mixes. Tidal Rising, in particular, spotlights emerging artists with the assistance of “tastemakers” and music experts.
Spotify
Spotify is currently the most popular music streaming platform worldwide, with a staggering 30% share of music streamers and the highest number of paying subscribers. The platform boasts an extensive music and podcast library and impressive music discovery features. However, it falls short due to its lack of a HiFi audio quality option.
Spotify provides five different plan types to cater to different preferences, including the standard Individual and Student plans. It also offers a Premium Duo plan for cost-effective sharing between two people. While a Premium Family Plan is also available, it’s worth noting that it is comparatively pricier in the UK and the US than alternative platforms such as YouTube Music, Pandora, and Tidal.
Spotify provides access to an extensive collection of over 3.6 million podcast titles and 82 million songs, including mainstream and independent music. The user-friendly interface allows easy navigation, with playlist sorting options like “Recently Added,” “Recently Played,” and alphabetical organization. In addition, the app offers the option to filter playlists by specific songs or downloads only. The seamless playback feature also enables easy switching between devices.
Lastly, Spotify prioritizes personalization, utilizing an AI system called “BaRT (Bandits for Recommendations as Treatment)” for tailored recommendations based on your listening history. These customized suggestions can be found in the “Made for You” section as custom mixes.
Apple Music
Apple Music has an impressive visual design and remarkable audio quality. Its comprehensive music library offers various non-music features, such as radio and video content. In essence, all the essential features of a top-notch music streaming service can be found on this platform, which is why it remains our overall best pick.
Users can subscribe to four different payment plans tailored to individual, student, and family requirements. Apple Music’s latest offering is the Music Voice plan, which caters to Siri-enabled devices like the iPhone, AirPods, HomePod mini, and much more. This option provides enhanced convenience with a hands-free listening experience not limited to a mobile or desktop device.
Apple Music provides an exceptional listening experience through its Spatial Audio Dolby Atmos-enabled feature, allowing for a fully immersive 360-degree experience. This incredible feature is accessible through Made for Spatial Audio playlists and can be easily activated on your device with guidance from Apple Support.
The content offered by Apple Music is also outstanding, with an extensive library of over 30,000 thoughtfully crafted playlists and 100 million songs that cater to diverse musical tastes. Additionally, Apple Music offers access to exclusive artist interviews, a wide selection of radio shows, and even a 24-hour live stream of music videos with Apple Music TV. This streaming service is a no-brainer for individuals looking to stay up-to-date with new music releases.
Wrapping Up
Upon exploring the abovementioned ways for staying up-to-date with new music releases, chances are high that you might come across a genre of music that you have not encountered before or potentially uncover additional artists within your preferred genre. Additionally, with some searching, you may discover a suitable playlist that aligns with your current mood. Ultimately, it’s all about taking your time and starting your search to uncover these musical gems!
Eric Dalius is The Executive Chairman of MuzicSwipe, a music and content discovery platform designed to maximize artist discovery and optimize fan relationships. Along with his work at MuzicSwipe, he also interviews groundbreaking entrepreneurs on his weekly podcast, “FULLSPEED.” Eric also founded the “Eric Dalius Foundation” to support US students with four scholarships. Follow his journey on Twitter, Facebook,YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Entrepreneur.com.
