How Can I Find New Music Similar To Artists I Already Love

You’ve played your favourite album to death. The algorithm keeps serving you the same ten artists. And you’re craving something new that hits the same spot — but where do you even start? Wondering how can I find new music similar to artists I already love? It is part detective work, part technology, and part asking the right humans.

The streaming algorithms are a decent starting point, but they’re designed to keep you listening, not to expand your taste. The real discoveries — the ones that become your new favourites — usually come from more deliberate digging. Here’s the full toolkit.

How can I find new music similar to artists I already love

1. Start with the algorithm (but use it properly)

Spotify’s “Fans Also Like” on any artist page is genuinely useful — it’s based on actual listening patterns, not genre tags. The “Discover Weekly” and “Release Radar” playlists get smarter the more you use them, but only if you train them: like songs you love, skip what you don’t, and don’t let other people’s listening pollute your account (a separate playlist for the kids’ music helps).

Apple Music’s “Create Station” from any song builds an endless radio of similar tracks. YouTube Music’s recommendations, driven by your viewing as well as listening, can surface surprising gems. Try all of them — they each have blind spots.

2. Follow the lineage: producers, labels and collaborators

This is the music-nerd method and it’s the most reliable. Love an album? Find out who produced it, then explore everything else they’ve produced. Love a band? Check what label they’re on — labels have taste, and their rosters are curated. Check the “featuring” credits, the songwriters, the session musicians. Music is a small world; following these threads leads to gold.

Wikipedia and AllMusic are brilliant for this — artist pages list associated acts, and the “related artists” rabbit hole is deep.

3. Ask humans (the old ways still work)

• Record shop staff. An independent record shop employee who hears “I love X, what else should I try?” will light up. This is literally their favourite question. If you’re getting into physical music, my guide to collecting vinyl on a budget pairs well with this.
• Friends with good taste. Everyone knows one person whose recommendations are always right. Ask them. Offer a swap — make each other a playlist.
• Online communities. Reddit’s genre-specific subreddits, Rate Your Music lists, and Discord servers for specific scenes are full of obsessives who love turning people onto new things. Search “artists similar to X reddit” and you’ll find threads of recommendations.
• Support slots at gigs. The support act at a gig by a band you love was chosen because they fit. Arrive early — some of my favourite discoveries have been 7:30pm support slots. My piece on finding local live music gigs covers how to get out to more of them.

4. Use the specialist tools

• Every Noise at Once (everynoise.com) — a mind-bending map of every microgenre on Spotify, with playlists for each. Find your artist’s genre, then explore its neighbours.
• Music-Map / Gnoosic — type in artists you like, get a visual map or list of similar ones.
• Radio: BBC 6 Music, in particular, is a discovery machine — DJs playing things because they love them, not because an algorithm said so. BBC Sounds lets you catch up on everything.
• Film and TV soundtracks: Heard a great song in a show? Shazam it. Soundtrack supervisors are professional music discoverers.

Keeping up once you’ve found them

Discovery is only half the battle — staying current matters too. Follow new favourites on your streaming service so their releases hit your Release Radar. Set up Google Alerts for tour announcements. And my guide to keeping up with new album releases has the full system for never missing a drop.

The mindset that finds the best music

Your weekly music discovery routine (20 minutes)

Discovery works best as a habit, not a project. Here’s a sustainable weekly routine:

• Monday (5 mins): check your Release Radar and save anything interesting to a “New This Week” playlist. Don’t judge yet — just collect.
• Wednesday (5 mins): listen to the “New This Week” playlist on your commute. Star the standouts, delete the rest. Ruthless curation is the skill.
• Friday (10 mins): skim New Music Friday, check one trusted publication’s reviews, and look at what your most interesting friend has been listening to (Spotify’s friend activity is underrated for this).
• Monthly: pick one new artist from the month and go deep — full discography, live videos, interviews. The deep dive is where fandom is born.
• Quarterly: see one new artist live. The £12 gig, the support slot, the local venue. Live music cements the connection like nothing else.

The “three-listen rule”

First listens are unreliable — you’re hearing your expectations, not the music. Give every promising new artist three full listens before deciding: once casual, once with attention, once after reading about them. Albums that click on the third listen often become the deepest favourites. The ones that don’t survive three listens weren’t for you, and that’s fine.

Keeping track of it all

Use playlists as your memory: “2026 Discoveries” (everything new you liked this year), “Deep Dives” (artists to explore fully), “Live List” (artists to see). At year end, the Discoveries playlist is a time capsule of your taste evolving. Share it with friends — the annual playlist swap is one of music fandom’s great traditions.

When discovery becomes collecting

Finding new music often leads to wanting to own it. If the vinyl bug bites, my budget vinyl guide keeps it affordable. And for staying current with established favourites, my new album releases system ensures you never miss a drop.

The people with the best taste aren’t lucky — they’re curious. They listen to the support act. They read the liner notes. They ask the record shop guy. They give an album three listens before deciding. Streaming made music infinite but attention scarce; the trick to finding new music similar to artists you already love is simply paying attention on purpose. Your next favourite band is out there. Go find them.