How to Find Similar Music Sites

There are many popular music websites available to help with music discovery. Three popular options are TuneGlue, Pandora Radio and Last.fm. Each of these sites offer a different approach to finding music you like. Using these tools makes it easy to find music similar to your tastes.

TuneGlue

TuneGlue is a music mapping tool that allows you to choose a band or artist and search for similar bands. The interface is clean and simple to use. While it will not allow you download or preview music, it provides a unique way to compare music and find new possibilities. After finding a band or artist in TuneGlue, you can then use Pandora or Last.fm to find samples of the music.

1. Type a band or artist’s name into the search box in the upper-right corner of the page.


2. Click the magnifying glass to search. A node should appear on the page.


3. Click the node. This will bring up a menu around the node.


4. Click "Lock Pos." This will make sure the node does not float off the screen.


5. Click the node again and choose "similar" from the menu. This should cause multiple nodes to appear, branching from the original. These nodes are all labeled with band or artist names found to be similar to the central artist or band.


6. If a band sounds interesting, click their node and choose releases. This should provide a list of releases for the band, giving you a starting point for finding music by the artist.

Pandora

While Pandora is, at its heart, a music streaming service, the way they provide music makes it great for finding music that is similar to your tastes.

1. Type a band or artist’s name into the search box in the middle of the page.


2. After searching the music database, Pandora will begin playing songs with a short explanation of why they felt this song was similar to the artist or band originally searched.


3. In the box displaying information about the song playing, there are a few options to gain further information:
   
   
   1. Clicking on the artist name or album name will take you to a page about the artist.
   
   
   2. Clicking the thumbs down button will stop playing the current song and start a new song. Pandora tracks likes and dislikes to attempt to provide an audio stream custom tailored to your exact wants.
   
   
   3. Clicking the thumbs up button will tell Pandora you like this song and will cause more songs of this style to play.
   
   
   4. Clicking the "Menu" button will allow you to skip the track, without feedback or view the explanation of why the track was chosen again.
   
   
   5. The "Buy" button will allow you to purchase the album or track using iTunes, Amazon Music or Amazon CD.
   
   

Last.fm

Last.fm is both a music website and a social media site. Signing up for a free account allows you to track any music listened to on your media player software and devices, using an application called AudioScrobbler. However, without having an account or using the application, you can use the site to find similar music, as well.

1. Type a band, artist, album or song name into the search box in the upper-right corner of the page and press "Enter."


2. Towards the middle of the page, there will be a section labeled Similar Artists. Click on a band or artist in which you are interested.


3. If the band or artist has any tracks featured on the site, they will be displayed and available for download in the Featured Tracks section by clicking the "Free MP3" button.


4. To listen to samples of a band or artist, scroll down to the Top Tracks section. This list will contain the most popular tracks the application has reported back to the website.


5. Click the "Play" button, next to the track name to preview the track.