Bored with your playlists? Reignite your love of music by expanding your knowledge with these apps and projects.
It’s never been easier to find new music! From Apple Music to Spotify, Pandora to YouTube Music, there are plenty of apps to browse and discover artists. So why do you find yourself listening to the same 20 songs on repeat?
Before you resign yourself to the algorithm, consider this: There are plenty of in-app features and projects that can help you learn about music, while discovering new songs to add to your algorithm-generated playlists. Our team at The Webby Awards is full of music connoisseurs, and we’ve honored plenty of music-related apps and projects that help people expand their libraries.
So don’t stress. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite music discovery features, podcasts, and online stores (including a few Webby-recognized picks) to help you widen your horizon. Read on to see our picks.
Listening to music is always better with friends. Test out your DJ skills and crowdsource new songs from your friends with JQBX (Jukebox). It’s an app that lets you DJ live for friends by connecting directly to your Spotify account, and lets anyone you invite do the same.
Apple Music built out a new feature that lets you stream live recordings of DJ mixes, and use Shazam, the song identifying app, to i-d the songs used in each mix. Apple Music is also paying for the licensed music in each mix, so when you listen, the DJs, labels, and musicians get paid. We tried it out by listening to DJ sets from the ARC Music Festival, for modern house music.
Ever wonder what musicians play when no one is around to hear? Blast Radio is a new audio platform that lets you hear temporary broadcasted content from artists you love—from DJ mixes, to B-sides to live experiments they may never publish elsewhere. The catch? Broadcasts disappear after 24 hours.
Anyone who knows Questlove knows that in addition to being a DJ, songwriter, author and film director, he is an excellent music journalist and historian. Dig deeper into the stories of musical icons and their works in his Webby Award-winning podcast Questlove Supreme, featuring interviews with Angélique Kidjo, Salaam Remi, Lenny Kravitz and more.
Jump in the deep end with Poolsuite, this 80s-themed, online radio station that proves summer never ends. Explore their Poolsuite FM radio station channels, from Tokyo Disco and Friday Nite Heat, to their original mixtapes. For those serious about their summer vacations, Poolsuite also made a line of sunscreen and tanning oil.
