If you’ve got a bunch of friends who are into the same genre that you are – they may all be alt rock stans, for example – then finding new music is as easy as pie. But for someone with an obscure music taste, relying on algorithms becomes the only option. Spotify luckily happens to be one of the best, if not the best, streaming services for music discovery. The platform offers a plethora of ways to help you find your latest track to obsess over, and if you are wondering what those are, we have listed them down below. Start a Radio If your favourite playlist has started to turn stale, then starting a Radio for it can give it a much-needed rejuvenation. Radios work best for situations when you know what kind of music you need to listen to but are not sure what to listen to specifically at that moment. To start a Radio for a playlist, open a playlist, tap on the three-dot icon on the top, and select “Go to Playlist Radio” from the menu. Do so and you’ll see a puffier playlist with several new songs that sound similar to the ones already on the playlist. You can add the ones you like. Similarly, you can also start a radio for a specific song: Tap on the three-dot menu on the right of a song, select “Go to Song Radio,” and hit the green play button. Enhance button Using Radio to discover new music is great, but the Enhance button is way niftier. Open any playlist to see a button with two star icons inside at the top. Spotify slips in a bunch of new songs similar to the existing ones, enhancing the playlist. Tapping that button again immediately removes all new songs added by Spotify. But if you wish that a song stays, simply tap the “+” icon on it to add it permanently. Recommended Songs section The Recommended Songs section is another neat way to discover new music. It contains five new pieces of music which you can quickly insert into your playlist using the add button. If none of the 5 songs interests you, there’s also a refresh button. You can find this section at the bottom of all playlists. Home screen suggestions If you want nothing to do with your existing playlists and wish to play something entirely new, then Spotify’s curated playlists work best. The app’s Home section is packed with new playlists that Spotify lovingly creates for you. Some of them are refreshed on a daily or weekly basis while others are based on your favourite artist or on the current festival. Discover Weekly: “Based on your listening history and that of fans with similar taste, the Discover Weekly playlist is like getting recommendations from the more in-the-know version of yourself,” reads Spotify’s description for the playlist. You can find it under the “Discover something new section.” Daily Mix: Where Discover Weekly is relatively random, the Daily Mix playlists are divided by genre. Users can have up to six mixes, based on the variety and amount of their general listening history. Daily Mixes can be found under the “Made For (your username)” section on Home. Release Radar: If you like keeping up with fresh, recently released music, Release Radar will be your best friend. The 30-song playlist is updated every Friday with music that has come out over the past few weeks, with recommendations based on your listening pattern. You can find this playlist under “New released for you.”
