How do you listen to trance in 2020?

How do you listen to trance in 2020?


  • Total voters
    18

chreddy

Senior Member
Jul 13, 2020
327 Posts
135 Thanked
Age
32
CPH, DK
Let's face it. With the introduction of streaming services in the mid-10's, the music business changed. If not immediately, then over a couple of years. Prior to this, many trance listeners (that I know of at least) used to listen to radio stations like di.fm/trance or ah.fm on a regular basis. But these days, trance-related radio stations seems less active than ever before, especially with popular shows like ASOT, GDJB and a great deal of other weekly radio shows being streamed directly to Youtube, Twitch and similar.

So out of nothing but curiousity, how do you listen to trance in 2020?
Are you sticking with the good old radio stations? Do you have a continuously growing library of music that you listen to? Or do you listen to music in a completely different way these days?
Let me know what works for you!

Note: In case of a local library, how you've gotten the music (if its in legal or illegal ways) is irrelevant to this thread.
 

Julian Del Agranda

Elite Member
Jul 3, 2020
1,583 Posts
1,824 Thanked
Usually spotify. A lot of times just listening to my own "trance collection" playlist, with has 922 tracks in it. Not bad for a Spotify-playlist. I sometimes just click around and end up with songs I didn't know or forgot about. I just listened to DJ Eco - And We Flew Away. Really liked that track, but hadn't put it in my collection yet. So that's a way of discovering new (or re-discovered) music.

I hardly listen to radioshows. Sometimes I put on ASOT or Pure Trance Radio, but it's not that often. Specially not "live". I check it out later.

And I have a quite big 'local library', ideal for stuff that isn't on Spotify. I also have around 450 vinyls.
 

Gijs

Senior Member
Jul 2, 2020
559 Posts
207 Thanked
Age
20
Zuid-Holland, NL
I've always preferred buying my music, given the fact that you can't use downloads from streaming platforms in personal mixes and lose them if you decide to cancel your subscription. I do use spotify, but only for checking new songs since the free one has way too many ads. I did end up buying a lot of songs I never used in mixes and don't listen to anymore, but I would still put it over using streaming services.

The stuff I have is mostly digital, though I do have all ASOT Year Mixes and ASOT Classics compilations except for Vol. 5 on CD. I listen to them frequently, but I have them imported on my phone if I want to listen to them when I'm not home.

As for radio stations, I used to listen to ASOT live from episode 761 until 850-ish, then I lost interest. I have ep. 750-769 saved on my phone though, I have strong memories with those as they were the ones that really got me into this genre, even though I started listening to trance in 2015.
 

Archon

Gagi
TranceFix Crew
Jun 27, 2020
3,913 Posts
2,809 Thanked
YouTube is at the forefront for me. I usually discover new (or old) trance tracks on TranceFix (threads usually have a YouTube embed video), or I just go straight to YouTube and stumble upon something. If I like it, I'll find it on Deezer, and if it exists, I'll add it to my collection. I sporadically use Soundcloud, but mostly for sets.

I also use Deezer for listening to my collection, to save albums which I should listen to, but mostly to re-listen tracks I love. For the tracks that aren't on Deezer, I have their YouTube bookmarks, or if I can get them in mp3/wav, I store them locally.

If I'm on my laptop, it's a mixture of YouTube/Deezer/local, but if I'm on my phone or in my car, it's almost always Deezer.

As for the radio shows, stopped listening to those in ~2013 as I lost my interest. Same goes with radio stations and podcasts or whatever.
 
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Tep

Member
Jul 2, 2020
46 Posts
19 Thanked
Spotify 95%, i was hesitant at first, as their selection of music was quite poor (joined the platform at quite early stage), but for last 3 years, it has been my main source (i have paid package as well). It is very easy to use, it has great playlist abilities, also its AI has gotten much better over the years, so playlists like discover weekly and release radar are very relevant.
In addition I also always have found new music on trancefix, so i am supergrateful it is still alive.
 

marcopm

Senior Member
Jul 11, 2020
253 Posts
200 Thanked
Website
www.marcopm.net
I listen to some weekly radioshows (ASOT, ABGT, FSOE, Magic Island, GWUP and if I have time also to some Ruben de Ronde shows).

Then I check my Beatport feed once a week, I'm following around 550+ labels and listen to all the new releases samples (about 200-300 new tracks each week... it takes some time, yes 😁). EDIT: forgot to say that I use the "crates" website, which is basically a much better Beatport interface. Discovered by chance on Reddit about a year ago. It almost changed my life.

I also listen to Spotify's weekly release radar. I'd like to use Spotify more but it's just totally unusable for my needs: no release dates, no simple way of seeing the latest releases, no extended versions, etc.
 
Last edited:

chreddy

Senior Member
Jul 13, 2020
327 Posts
135 Thanked
Age
32
CPH, DK
Personally I'm subscribed to a bunch of podcasts, which I listen to on a regular basis, often in transit to/from work. Most noteworthy ones being Pure Trance Radio, Mental Asylum Radio and VII Radio.
I don't really listen to any of those live anymore though. Not even ASOT even if that used to be a weekly thing for me.

Other than that, I'm often using Spotify when I'm not home. I'm especially fond of Spotify's weekly updated release radar. After been using the service for years, this often gives me some great suggestions - and let's not forget about the other personalized playlists (such as the "your daily mix" playlists) either.
My main issue about Spotify and other streaming services though, is the lack of extended mixes.

Meanwhile when I'm at home, I almost always listen to albums from my library. I have a rather big collection of CD's which have all been ripped and stored digitally - and not exclusively trance. So there's always something to listen to and albums to rediscover.

I do have a separate digital library of new trance tracks at home as well, which is mainly used when I'm making sets.
 

Katadunkass

The Banhammer
TranceFix Crew
Jun 27, 2020
1,453 Posts
1,266 Thanked
Age
33
Denmark
It's a bit of a mixture of everything. For a quick browsing I'll taker either Beatport or Juno, for longer sessions where I'm more interested in it as background music I'll take sets on SoundCloud. Either of those choises can be hit or miss, I can browse for hours on Beatport without finding a single good track and the same goes for sets, while there are days you just discover one diamond after another.
For a deeper go-through there's no doubt: YouTube is the best for that.
 

Hensmon

Admin
TranceFix Crew
Jun 27, 2020
3,109 Posts
2,606 Thanked
UK
I have a massive Itunes library which I have maintained rigorously for over 15 years now and which I add to almost daily. The music is sorted into over 1250+ playlists, each in its own library (12 libraries) and of course sorted by genres/feelings/moods. I love my Itunes as I never loose or forget an amazing track, and I have the periods and tastes of my life captured from the past for listening pleasure. I have around 12,000 Trance/Progressive/Psy Tracks altogether.

Trancefix and Youtube become my primary source of discovery and I will add stuff to a music list for vetting and eventually buying. I think Youtube is an amazing place for discovering music. It has by far the biggest and most obscure collection out there and I love the comment sections which provide extra knowledge, thoughts and further discovery options + the music videos and artwork. It's as close as we have to digging in the crates, and I think it does it excellently. Trancefix still remains the best place online to discover true expert level gems, which I never would have found otherwise. It was a big motivation for me when working on the new forum and keeping it alive. Seriously knowledgable people here across all the genres.

Spotify I will use, but mainly as a practical way for listening to music with friends, so it's rarely Trance music, just group friendly genres and playlists. Radioshows are also something I listen to, but only on long bus, train and plane journeys. And that will always be JOOF, PURE or LCD Sound Sessions.
 

Sleepy Robot

Senior Member
Jul 7, 2020
671 Posts
417 Thanked
The Netherlands
I use Trancefix, Soundcloud and Youtube to discover music that's new too me, or listen too rare tracks. Radio Shows are mostly JOOF, Pure, LNG , Deepersense and sometimes Patterns.

I have all my music on my PC so at home i usually listen from there.

On the road i use Google Play music in a combo of music on an SD card and purchased music from the store via streaming. But now that Google is killing off GPM i'm looking for an alternative for buying and playing music (not keen on switching to Youtube Music for now).

I rarely use playlists, i don't really see their use. I do use the shuffle option so tracks i don't often choose myself get some playtime too.
 
S

Spacemanuevers

Guest
Good to see so many votes for the local library, thats also how I mainly listen to my music too. Soundcloud sets have been pretty good to me as well for finding more unique Trance.
 

Bluemoon

Senior Member
Jul 8, 2020
276 Posts
183 Thanked
Eventhough i had a dozen computers and hardisks die on me the last 20 years or so i still have every single song i liked the last 20 years on my computer. Every now and then i have to go through it and delete stuff that didnt age well, also some styles tend to be overused and in the end you get bored of it. So yeah i have around 5000 songs on my computer. I downloaded all of it but ive spent a 4 figured amount in dollars to buy the music that i really really appreciate so i dont feel bad about it haha.

If i got 1 dollar for every hour ive spent on perfecting my folders, playlists, renaming songs and whatnot i would be very wealthy now.

Anyways this is my most precious thing here in life so i actually have a hardisk at my dads house which i fill up once a year or so. So if my house should burn down or something like that i will not lose it. I cannot live without my music ^^
 
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dmgtz96

Elite Member
Jul 13, 2020
2,640 Posts
1,499 Thanked
Pretty much exclusively on Youtube. I don't use other streaming services (ex. Spotify), Soundcloud, or Mixcloud.
Used to have a bunch of trance tracks on my computer back when I was younger and music piracy was widespread (Megaupload, Zippyshare, 4shared anyone?). Now that the audio quality of Youtube uploads has improved and The Orchard Enterprises plus other licensing companies made a lot more music available, there is no need to download music to your computer at all.

For me, trance music discovery is also on Youtube or even here on trancefix.
 
S

Spacemanuevers

Guest
One of the great things about Youtube is its range of music pre-2000. There are albums and releases on there that will never make it to the streaming services or stores ever again, sometimes even the vinyls have been lost to time. Youtube is a place for the long-lost and rare musical pieces and even my tastes for Progressive House 1992-2002 cannot be even nearly touched on by Spotify, they just don't include it, which is usually why I end up having to buy or rip directly from Youtube.
 

Hensmon

Admin
TranceFix Crew
Jun 27, 2020
3,109 Posts
2,606 Thanked
UK
Eventhough i had a dozen computers and hardisks die on me the last 20 years or so i still have every single song i liked the last 20 years on my computer.

Mate you literally described my exact thoughts and mentality with your entire post, great to read. I would also be an insanely rich man with 1 dollar for every hour spent cultivating and organising my Itunes library. Sometimes I don't even know why I do it and then I rediscover that incredible track from 10 years ago that would have been lost to me forever and remember why. Like you, the music is my life, and having a place where I can preserve and organise my own musical journey is a precious thing. I look forward to being 80 year old man and looking back at the full music experience I had. At some point i'll have to share an image of my playlists.
 
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