I absolutely love Spotify. Yes, artists (looking at you Taylor Swift) have their issues around it and they have valid reasons, but for someone who is always looking to discover new music, it’s the perfect way. I got stuck in my ways and the artists I knew, but then I started to want to branch out more and discover what else is out there.
Being a student, I have access to half price Spotify premium which I definitely take advantage of. It’s so useful being able to listen to all my saved songs offline, and of course I love not having the adverts after every few songs. It means that it’s my main way of listening to my music now, although I still do buy songs and albums released by the artists I support. My favourite part of Spotify is the ‘Discover’ section. Using data of what you’ve been listening to, you are given recommendations to other artists and albums you may be interested in. I’ve discovered many new albums I love through this. You even get your own ‘Discover Weekly’ playlist, which updates every Monday with new songs you may be interested in. When I listen to a song on here that I like, I save it to a playlist I set up for this use so I can listen again another time, or listen to a whole playlist of new songs I’ve discovered and enjoyed.
Another way of discovering new music is through looking at the new releases to see the most recent music, a lot of which I’m not aware of. I’ve saved many new albums through this. There’s also the way of browsing for playlists, in which new songs will appear. In addition, when you are on an artist’s page, the ‘Related Artists’ come up at the side. I’ve often found myself going on a trail through all different artist’s pages and discovering new people to listen to, related to the artists I already know I enjoy listening to. I love it too when there’s an artist I’ve discovered who isn’t well known, and I hear their songs in films and TV programmes for example. I watched the film Paper Towns last week, and there was a song by Twin Shadow played at the end, which I discovered through Spotify and I love that album.
Spotify makes it so easy for us to discover new music that we grow to love. It means no more looking through iTunes and Youtube trying to think of new things to search. Yes, you can discover plenty of new music this way, but Spotify just simplifies the whole process and has opened my eyes to much more music.
What do you all think of Spotify? Do you love it or are you not bothered?
Han Speaks 