Take Risks To Discover New Music

Let me ask you a question. When was the last time you discovered new music by yourself?

When I say ‘by yourself’ I mean you didn’t get it recommended to you by a friend or just happened to hear it from a movie soundtrack or TV show. I mean a time you purposely went in search of new music because you wanted something new to listen to. If the answer was anything but ‘in the last week’, I’d like to ask you ‘why?’.

Now, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to not discover a new song, album, or artist every single month. People can sometimes find enjoyment in one or two artists or even genres their whole lives. However, I think it’s in a music lover’s best interests to find new stuff to listen to all the time. Why? The answer is quite scientific.

Songs you’ve heard a million times can sometimes annoy you after a while, especially songs you hear on the radio that are at a low volume. This happens because when we hear the same song many times without really focusing on it, our brain learns to treat it as unimportant and slowly gets filtered away over time. It becomes boring and predictable, and we ultimately lose interest.

Also, if you never give other things a try, you won’t discover what you truly like. It’s the same with food. Have you ever tried something you hated when you were 14 but you’ve given it another try now that your taste buds have changed and you don’t know what you’d do without it? The same could be said for thousands of artists out there begging for you to give them a try, either for the first time or in a long time.
Now, you could argue that giving music another try isn’t the same as giving food or drink another try as ears don’t change. Well, they do! Our ears are constantly growing with our body, and the size of your ear does change how you hear certain frequencies. It’s not a lot, but always something to think about.

To remain focused on today’s article about blindly taking risks with music for the first time rather than giving things a second, third, or hundredth chance, I want to focus on an interesting statistic.
People generally tend to stop listening to new music at the age of 30.
This derives from a study done by Deezer in 2018, with the reason why pointing toward 30-year-olds having a busier lifestyle and not having the time to find new tunes. Sounds fair enough at first, but I’m not sure adults understand just how easy it is to find new music every single day. Streaming services are practically pleading for new music to be listened to. Spotify has a ‘Discover Weekly’ playlist that updates every Monday and consists of 30 songs from artists you’ve probably never heard of, though you sometimes get given an unknown song by an artist you do regularly listen to. Tidal offers up a New Arrivals playlist; over 60 newly released songs by artists you know (Beyonce, Travis Scott, Calvin Harris, etc) and artists you may not know. Deezer has multiple 50-80 song playlists that span multiple genres like Rock, Dance, R&B, Metal, and many more.
Those are seen as pretty convenient as you more than likely already subscribe to one of those services and dozens of fresh tracks are waiting for you in your library. However, it may also be a wise idea to use a platform like Bliiink that acts as a musical microscope and hone in on the more obscure artists that won’t get a chance anywhere else. Bliiink offers a free streaming service for unsigned or lesser-known artists, so you can be one of the first to discover the next big thing. The highest rated and most played tracks get their time in the spotlight; a top 50 tracks page so you can easily hear what’s popping right now.

So, why wait? Why not give that artist a chance that caught your eye a while back? Why not enter the smaller tents at festivals? Why not go head first into a genre you didn’t even know existed? You’ve got nothing to lose, everything to gain and you definitely have the time. There’s no better age to live in than today’s digital age to uncover a hidden gem or two, and you’ll have yourself to thank for it.