Life after Record Bird: how and where else can you find out about the release of music releases

After the Record Bird service announcing new albums was closed a year ago, many wondered: how to replace it and whether it is possible at all. Let's talk about the alternatives.





Photo Samuel Fyfe / Unsplash



You can find out, but not everywhere



Streaming services really offer great opportunities. You can even say redundant. But to learn about releases, if we are not talking about new tracks (here things are pretty good, though not everywhere), but about the release of full-fledged albums, almost everything does not allow. For example, in Google Play Music - what is there just there: a burning fireplace on the Chromecast screen (I wonder if someone used it?), Recommendations “for a good mood”, “for concentration” and so on. Besides what we need - notifications of new albums. Deezer says that "the editors know everything about the latest releases, forgotten classics, future hits and choose the best especially for you." But I would like to cope without the “human factor” and get a notification in time.



Streaming Service Alerts



Spotify can report on releases of musicians that you like. To do this, in the user profile you need to enable sending alerts - by email or via push. But in parallel with information about your favorite artists, the application will send notifications of concerts and platform news. Another minus is that Spotify also pushes information about new products that, according to the service, you should like. This can be regarded as advertising. Recently it became known that performers will be able to pay the site for this type of promotion.



In a similar way, things are with another streaming service - Yandex.Music. In the settings, you can switch the “Receive notifications” slider. Then, information about collections or singles of selected artists will be sent to the email associated with the service. But the company’s policy is the same as Spotify’s: either all or nothing. At the same time, the service does not always send new releases: the letter may contain re-releases or old albums that were not previously on the site.







/ Example letter sent by Yandex.Music



Apple Music is also able to send push notifications to a smartphone when the popular artists you listen to are releasing new work. Notifications also come when audio shows (such as podcasts) are released. To do this, in the user profile you need to switch the slider "Artists and Shows". However, people note that the function is unstable : notifications either do not come at all, or they rarely come. One of the residents of Reddit says that for the entire time using the service I have never seen them.



Alternative: music trackers



Release information is also offered by third-party applications. For example, MuzeRoom - it automatically tracks the latest news on the largest streaming services. MuzeRoom also pulls up news from 150 blogs and online publications: Rolling Stone, Billboard and Pitchfork.



However, most of the news comes when you listen to a particular artist - this can distract those who prefer to work to music. Not to mention the fact that the platform generally collects all the information about musicians (even videos), and not just new albums and singles.





/ MuzeRoom Home



Also worth noting are simpler solutions. Album Reminder sends you email alerts for new albums at Amazon. Muspy.com offers an RSS feed of recently released CD tracks. The service takes information from the open encyclopedia MusicBrainz . True, you can import your favorite artists that you want to follow only with Last.fm or Facebook. In other cases, the list of musicians will have to be compiled manually.



Another informant is Album-info.ru . This is an analogue of Muspy.com that has been operating since 2009. Only owners of a paid account ($ 3 per year) can connect to RSS or receive information about albums. At the same time, updates are sometimes published behind the official release.



Social networks



In general, social. Networks can be used to collect release information. The most relevant information is on the official pages of artists and in thematic groups. However, they also post a large number of unnecessary posts - for example, about other bands or concerts. At the same time, to find out about the new album, you need to regularly monitor all publications.





Photo Fredrik Solli Wandem / Unsplash



There are applications in the social. networks that can simplify the task - like the E: \ music \ library, but they also have too much extra information. Although new solutions appear in this area.



In 2016, they announced the social network MuzApp - it unites people according to preferences and collects tracks from different libraries in one place. But they say that the product is still raw, in particular, has a meager library. And the question - how to replace the Record Bird after all - remains open so far.






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