Have you ever tried to search for underrated, niche music on Spotify but given up since you found it difficult to break away from your recommendations? You’re not alone. Finding niche music can be tricky but not impossible. Here’s all you need to know.
Is It Difficult to Find Niche Music on Spotify?
The answer really depends on what type of recommendations you get based on your listening history. If you want to get recommended fresh, niche music simply based on your recommendations, then you might want to build dedicated playlists and start listening to what you consider niche music regularly. Since everyone’s definition of niche music also varies, it could be more difficult on a case-by-case basis.
But Spotify (as well as some third-party websites) has a few options that make discovering super-niche music much easier. In that regard, as long as you know where to look, finding niche music does not have to be a Herculean task.
Use the Fresh Finds Playlist
Spotify has some of the best curated playlists for discovery that can help you expand your library beyond songs that you might find while exploring or using Smart Shuffle. For niche music, one particular playlist that has become a staple in my Spotify library is Fresh Finds.
This is a playlist dedicated to new and independent artists and labels and is updated pretty regularly. While I find that Smart Shuffle too, can do a good job of helping you find some niche music and artists, Fresh Finds is guaranteed only to show you underrated music. Sometimes, I like to use the Smart Shuffle feature while I’m using the Fresh Finds playlist, which can work too.
Spotify has country-specific and genre-specific Fresh Finds playlists. You could also try checking in with Spotify’s Discover Weekly for some new, hidden gems, given that it is updated at the start of every week. To find Spotify’s Fresh Finds playlists, you can search for them in your Explore tab.
Deep Dive Into Your Niche Mixes
In 2023, Spotify introduced Niche Mixes, which are personalized playlists for “anything you can think of.” These mixes align with others, such as Mood Mixes and Genre Mixes, but offer a set of customized playlists that combine a bit of everything. It’s meant to help you discover music for any occasion, mood, or genre you want.
To access Niche Mixes, all you need to do is go to the Made for You tab in the Explore tab and search for a mood, aesthetic, or genre, followed by the word “Mix.” Spotify tries to customize your available mixes based on what you are searching for. Made for You also usually has a couple of options where I find niche music anyway, but Niche Mixes allow you to do way more. You can also search for “Niche” in the Explore tab to find Spotify’s niche music playlists or search “Niche Mix” to find what Spotify has personalized for you.
Apart from Niche Mixes, you can also try using Spotify’s AI DJ and AI playlists to find specific music that you might be looking for. I find that using these features in combination with Spotify’s genre-specific playlists can yield some good discovery results.
Create an Infinite Loop Radio Station
One feature that I use in combination with Smart Shuffle to discover similar music is the song radio, which allows you to listen to a stream of similarly aligned music that usually matches the genre or type of artist. One hack that has helped me find niche music on Spotify is to create an “infinite loop” radio station: once you find a song that you consider niche and want to discover more, first, create a song radio out of it. Then, make another song radio from the second song, and go on until you are satisfied with your discovery.
While this hack can also be useful for any genre, I find this to be the most effective when I’m trying to find independent artists and niche music that usually flies under my radar.
To start a radio with a song that you like, play a song on your Spotify app (mobile, desktop, or web browser). Click the three dots next to it, then select “Go to Radio.” You will be led to the song’s radio playlist, from which you can select a song you like and repeat the process to create the infinite loop.
Use Every Noise at Once
One of my favorite ways to constantly find new artists and music is Every Noise at Once. This is a website that allows you to find niche, aligned genres based on a genre that you select. You can then discover artists and their profiles within a specific genre and sample the type of music they make. The website also links to niche playlists directly to Spotify, which makes navigation easier.
To get started with Every Noise at Once, visit the website. Click the arrow next to a genre to find artists, then click the arrow next to an artist to discover more about their music. When you click on a genre, you can also find other genres that are closely aligned and discover similar artists as well.
Try Music Map to Find Similar Artists
Discovering similar artists to niche ones that you are interested in can be difficult if the genres you’re looking at don’t have much clout or recognition. An external tool that can help you solve this problem is Music Map. This website maps out an artist you search for, displaying closely aligned artists with similar music.
You can keep clicking on artists you are interested in to generate more music maps and create an infinite loop of artist recommendations. Music Map helps you “travel” along this discovery journey and generates several artist names based on what people who like a particular artist also listen to.
Music Map is a very cool tool to use when Spotify’s playlists or features fall short of what you’re looking for.
Find New Music with Release Radar
A good way to find up-and-coming artists is to use Spotify’s Release Radar. This is a playlist dedicated to brand-new releases, updated regularly. Although you might have to skim through the playlist to find underrated artists amid the more mainstream ones, this is still a good resource that can help you find new artists and releases. Release Radar is based on artists you follow, so I find it productive to use this playlist regularly once you have followed a decent number of niche artists.
You can also go to your Spotify’s Home tab > Profile > What’s New to be constantly updated on what your favorite artists are releasing.
Use Genre Subreddits to Discover New Artists
When all else fails, Reddit always comes to the rescue. I’ve discovered some amazing local artists through Reddit’s music and genre-specific subreddits, such as r/Ambientmusic and r/Ladiesofmetal. While you might have to spend some time to figure out which subreddits work best for you, there’s a whole pool of genres to pick from.
I always go back to r/Music’s comprehensive list of music subreddits, which has helped me discover genres and artists that I never knew existed.
Music discovery on Spotify can be a little tricky to figure out in the beginning when you are looking for specific artists or genres. But with these features and tools, finding super niche music can be much easier.
