How do you discover new music? (Last.fm, Pandora, human recommendations, etc.)

[brandon]

How do you find new songs?

[Naj]

Sometimes via Last.fm (recommended by a friend who sometimes suggests new things for me). And through music blogs.
And at the start of each year: by checking the BBC's 'sound of'-list (previous winners include Adele, Mika, Lily Allen and Little Boots, next years sound is Ellie Goudlding, which is no surprise to me :p)

[Dario Western]

By writing my own songs. 

[megidoflame]

well i get bands from pretty much all my friends, the owner of the local cd shop knows my taste and sometimes sets aside some of his newly deliverded cd's so i can listen to them. Sometimes I use myspace or youtube checking favourite bands of bands i know, or links to other videos in the same style... I'm pretty much searching for music everywhere

[Riot.EXE]

DJ Mixes and Beatport.com, mostly...but then there's knowing the right people...

[brandon]

I sometimes listen to a specific neighbour's radio, or click the Play Your Neighbourhood button. Sometimes when I'm bored I click a neighbour and then check their friends' and neighbours' charts, partly to see how similar musical tastes are at three or four degrees of separation.

[brandon]

Of the first four Neighbours listed for me, two are in Singapore, and two are in Indonesia. It's interesting to see that people in far flung places share my tastes.

[Delta]

Sometimes just some background sound of a homemade video I happen to like, sometimes related links, and often I read about a band on Wikipedia and just dig my way through cooperations with other bands.

[John]

For me it's mostly radio.  We have a station in Australia, Triple J, that does a lot of indie and alternative music, and launches bands frequently.  Another station I listen to is FBi, which plays at least 50% of its music from Australian bands, which means that you hear a lot of different things to what you might do on a commercial station (both are non-commercial)

[joeyn]

I like Pandora and have found quite a few new groups on there. I highly recommend.

Joey

[Karla]

It can be difficult finding new bands to listen to. Although recently I've decided to get back into listening to classical music. I stopped listening to it for the last few years and have only just remembered how good it all is. Which is cool as I now have about 15 gigabytes of music that I can listen to all over again.

[brandon]

I'm watching the Grammy Awards right now, but I can't say I've discovered any outstanding songs I wasn't already aware of.

[Karla]

Actually there is a slightly different slant to the OP's question. How do you discover which bands and artists play the kind of music you want to introduce yourself to?

I want to start listening to a lot more Scottish folk music, especially anything that includes a keyless flute (I should hopefully be receiving my one tomorrow!). It would be really good to start listening to this genre a lot more and getting a feel for what it sounds like.

[brandon]

You might want to check out http://www.thistleradio.com/

[Riot.EXE]

Actually there is a slightly different slant to the OP's question. How do you discover which bands and artists play the kind of music you want to introduce yourself to?

I want to start listening to a lot more Scottish folk music, especially anything that includes a keyless flute (I should hopefully be receiving my one tomorrow!). It would be really good to start listening to this genre a lot more and getting a feel for what it sounds like.

I'd say it's part coincidence...being in the right place at the right time or something of that nature, and part social...the more diverse your company, the more likely you'd be introduced to something you wouldn't have otherwise found on your own.