How To: Find All The Music

It's common for people to get stuck listening to strictly Top 40 singles and never venture away from what everyone else is listening to. Because it's easy. Nothing against popular music of course, most of my favourites get radio play. They deserve it. Here are a few tips to get away from the bigger artists, whether you dive in to the land of the unknown or maybe you just dip a toe in. If you wanna expand your musical knowledge or awareness or library, you can:

• Check iTunes. I don't mean just the front page, pick a genre and see what is going on there. Look at what the employees are raving about. Look at your personal suggestions, sometimes it will be things you know, sometimes it could be just what you didn't think you were looking for.
• Find a new radio station. I used to hate when my dad would put his favourite station on, but lately I've noticed they play a lot of stuff I didn't realize was getting attention. Also look for local stations, indie stations etc. 
• Browse YouTube. Listen to a song you like, look at what comes up in the related videos. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent going from video to video like a kid in a candy shop finding all these wonderful songs and artists and falling in love. YouTube also has a music page with popular things, and covers.
• Go to shows. If you live near a big city, there will always be someone in town that you can see. If a friend needs someone to go to a concert with and you've never heard the act before, just go. Concerts are always a lot of fun and you might find that you enjoy the music! Also, if you're seeing a band you really like, don't be that douche that shows up as the headliner starts (unless you have a legitimate excuse) because openers are going to be of a similar genre or style to the headliner that you know you like. A lot of it is a spiral, you see a band, like their opener, see the opener, like their opener and all of a sudden you know 10 new bands. You can also find local music. Local music is important to support and it gives you a sense of community that those people live not too far from you. I think this one is the most important.
• Go on 8tracks. You can search an artist, mood, genre etc. and find mixes made within that category. Pandora and Spotify are similar but I know for sure one - if not both - are not available in Canada so I can't say much about them but I have heard good things. 
• Connect on Twitter. I guarantee if you have a Twitter, you have bands following you. Sometimes even I neglect to check them out but it's worth a try. You never know.
• Talk to your friends. You'd probably be shocked to know that your friends have a few gems they could show you.
• Read my blog. Just kidding. But seriously.

Sometimes I get really frustrated that there is just so much music out there and there's no way I'll ever be able to hear it all but I frequently do all of these things and now every time a new concert is announced in my city there's a 90% chance I've heard of the band playing.