Let's talk Reddit, everyone's favourite news source, community curator, ailment fact-checker and opinion validator.
Part conversation, part encyclopedia, and full-on meme bunker, there’s never before been a forum until its inception, a rich amount of sentient thoughts stockpiled, an amalgamation of minds and experiences culminating in a soup of kiss and tell that’s aptly dubbed the “Front page of the Internet."
But also, pet videos.
So take my hand and we'll boogie through the music hiker’s guide to the galaxy of Reddit, courtesy of an incessant forum crawler himself, to see where you belong, where you conform, what’s your niche, and witness downvotes as an act of micro-aggression in response to opinions. Fair warning - you might lock horns with some fairly nasty individuals behind their mean-spirited keyboards, so best watch out for those.
The musical community of Reddit, r/Music
Members: 27.5 million
We're beginning with the mothership. For anything that contains an audible beat, the 2008-born behemoth subreddit commands AMAs (ask-me-anythings) on the regular, often in a timely fashion surrounding an artist's release or to simply shoot the breeze. Sir James Paul McCartney
The place to discover new and overlooked music, r/ListenToThis
Members: 16.7 million
At 16.7 million swarmers strong, household band names and established releases are shunned here, as per their guidelines. Instead, new and overlooked titles that have been lost in the noise are modus operandi. There's also a weekly round-up of tracks that have gone under the radar, and a tool dedicated to specific sub-genres. Discover away.
Beep Bloop. A place to discuss everything electronic music-related, r/electronicmusic
Members: 2.1 million
As the title suggests, from bulky synthesizers to basem*nt beatmakers, electronic music contains a vast range of sub-genres that are sometimes needlessly dissected and categorised. From classic deep house to dubstep, future bass to intelligent dance music (IDM), this is for all the robot heads out there.
Of course, it comes with its fair share of memes too, and this one posted after Daft Punk's break-up announcement takes the cake for 2021.
Everything hip-hop, R&B and Future Beats, r/hiphopheads
Members: 2 million
This one's self-explanatory. The most active hip-hop and R&B forum on the Internet with 2 million users, many other subreddits have spawned to try and emulate its popularity, with little success. It's no surprise why, considering the tightly-knit community stays up to date and abreast on pretty much anything within the scene - including the unearthing of oldies.
Here's an endearing one of a pre-pubescent Mac Miller tearing it up in what is ostensibly after classroom hours. Rest in peace.
Reddit's Largest Indie Music Community, r/indieheads
Members: 1.9 million
Spanning members and recommendations from continents, Indie Heads steadfastly encapsulates the gamut of independent artists' fans and off-the-radar listens that fall between the cracks. If we could summarise this in a real-world analogy, this is where artists are celebrated before they're blared across stations all over the world, or for all you aspiring Chance the Rapper's out there gunning for independent awards' success.
And while it's almost impossible to untangle the true definition of an indie artist now that it's taken on several problematic constituents, it doesn't hold the subreddit back on the uplifting of voices deemed imperative, like this discussion citing a feature written on Mitski, Thao Nguyen, and Japanese Breakfaston their intersectionalities and voices within their scenes.Or, this performance of early Tame Impala by, of all groups,The Wiggles. Absolute must-sees.
Share and discover Korean music, r/kpop
Members: 848k
A haven for fans of K-pop,many rely on the subreddit for keeping up with the latest and greatest in Hallyu. From album releases to news and even the occasional AMA, the forum is plenty active for casuals and the most dedicated alike.
Records & Turntables, r/vinyl
Members: 640k
Crate diggers do more than just conglomerate at their local stores, and this is proof. From obscure releases, first looks, and down to pretty much just flexing their wares, the physical format needs to be kept alive, and this is one such avenue for it, or for anything to do with records, really.
The latest and greatest of pop music, all in one subreddit, r/popheads
Members: 416k
From artist speculation, track reviews, to The Weeknd's personal disapproval of the GRAMMYs -anything and everything to do with pop music wouldn't be out of place here. In fact, many a time has the subreddit spawned threads that made it to mainstream media reporting. Similarly, journalistic investigations by Redditors are not uncommon since its inception, as are subreddit discussions about other subreddits.
Stimulating, in-depth music discussions aren't rare here, r/LetsTalkMusic
Members: 312k
Probably the most talkative of the lot (in a good way), the self-proclaimed passionate community has driven heaps of intellectual debate, in-depth discussions, and genre-hopping suggestions, from obscure hard-to-findsto the artistic critiquing of the late MF Doom's output.
Then there's stuff like this:
We'll let you be the judge.
Raves. Remember those?r/aves
Members: 220k
A branch off from the r/festivals subreddit, r/aves has seen its member count overtake the former by about threefold. For lovers of all electronic dance music, the forum serves as a way to promote, share, encourage, and discuss raves and festivals of any ilk (so long as they're electronic). Users also share tips and tricks on how to get through the toughest of festivals,and what they can do to look out for one another.
When you can't remember that…track…r/NameThatSong
Members: 125k
The epitome of collaboration, the subreddit serves as a discovery medium for that one damn tune in your head you just can't seem to get rid of, but have no idea where to begin. r/NameThatSong encapsulates everything that's good about Reddit (and by extension, the Internet) - coming together, solving puzzles, and saving the day. Whether that's a jingle from the '80s, a chord progression from an ice cream truck, or a TikTok soundtrack you can't seem to Shazam - describe it, post it, and you shall be rewarded.
Though, it's commonplace to ask for help by providing video context that's relevant to your query, so start saving those GIFs as currency, you never know when you might need to bust out the big guns. Or the downright weird ones.
The ruthless one, r/crappymusic
Members: 39.4k
The pick of the lot. No one really knows who, orwhatevil masterminds drove the creation of this place but one thing's for certain, and that's some people don't have a heart. Though, tastes are subjective, so who's to say you won't discover a banger - like thisone about everyone's favourite takeout cuisine:
Fans of Japanese pop/rock/electronic/dance music, r/jpop
Members: 27.3k
Anime original soundtracks (OSTs), idol bands, Vocaloid lovers, and, of course, Japanese City Pop, this underrated subreddit's filled with hidden treasures beyond the usual musings fromNeon Genesis Evangelion orThe Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (which still remain S-tier in my books)if one bothers to dig its archives. Its members are constantly, eagerly shouting out J-Pop's influence on mostly Westernised airwaves, and is something that all local cultures could take a page out of.
For an extensive list of all the subreddits classed by genre, sub-genres, community-interest crevices, artist-specific subreddits and more, take a peekat the Reddit music community's master list.See you down the rabbit hole.
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