Your hunch was right. Instructors always have the best music.
Be it a refreshing remix of a song that just started to become overplayed, or an artist you’ve never heard of, it’s easy to leave class both inspired by new tracks and in awe of how your instructor found them. At B/SPOKE, music is what makes us tick, and hunting for that music is a full-time job for our instructors. Just as you prepare for a grad school exam or client presentation, your instructors are preparing their playlists with tons of research.
So how do they find the beats that keep all of us moving in class and scouring Spotify immediately after?
Soundcloud
Want remixes? Look to Soundcloud over all else. You may pop on to the streaming service of independent and signed artists every once in awhile, but clicking play and seeing where the site’s algorithm takes you can lead to a ton of new artist discoveries. A lot of these unsigned artists have mixes you can download for free and upload straight to Spotify using the Local Files feature – allowing you to listen to all your music in one place.
Check out the tags on Soundcloud for easy, genre-based listening. A few of our favorites are: #BassMusic, #Disco, and #House.
International radio
The U.S. has produced some of our favorite artists, but Australia, the U.K., The Netherlands, are equally represented. To pick up on local artists around the world, we tune in to international radio stations’ live streams and recaps regularly. Check out Australia’s leading radio station Triple J for a 24/7 live stream and their cover series Like a Version, or tune into BBC Radio 1’s YouTube channel to discover new artists out of the U.K.
Advanced search features on Spotify
The search bar on Spotify is more powerful than you ever imagined. Bookmark this page to remember the advanced search features that make scouring through Spotify’s more than 30 million tracks possible. A few of our favorite search terms:
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- genre: Displays music in the genre matching a keyword.
- label: Displays music released by the label matching a keyword.
- tag:new Lists the most recently added albums to Spotify
Live music
You won’t find a single instructor at B/SPOKE who gains inspiration solely from a laptop. We’re constantly at shows and festivals gaining inspiration from artists we love, and some we have never heard of. There are tons of great, inexpensive venues in Boston (The Sinclair is a staff favorite). See a cheap show and have a free night? Give the artist a listen online, and then snag a ticket. Chances are if you like their style over your laptop speakers, a live performance will be 10x better.
Don’t forget to follow the B/SPOKE Beat Lab on Spotify for access to our curated playlists you’re hearing in the studio.
