How many times have you hated a new song that’s supposedly the “hottest hit of the year” and then eventually come to tolerate it because of how frequently it is played on the radio? If you’re anything like me, the answer is too many to count, which is one of the reasons why I now refuse to listen to the radio.

Radio stations these days play the same ‘Top 20″ songs over and over again with hopes that you won’t notice that their fixed playlists and bad remixes are just a reflection of how poorly the music industry markets new music. 

On top radio stations, you’ll be hard pressed to find any song that isn’t being played by three other stations at the same time. The stations we listen to essentially shape the genres of music we like by brainwashing us into liking the newest music by top-selling artists.

The songs that are typically on the radio are catchy and make people want to dance, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but what about when you don’t want to listen to happy songs? What if you’re catching a case of the feels and you want music that is feeling it right there with you? You can’t really get that on the radio. 

I don’t know about you, but I like for music to make me feel emotions other than happiness. I like to feel like I’m on some sort of emotional journey.

I stopped listening to the radio when I was a sophomore in high school after signing up for Spotify and discovering the only songs/artists I really knew were the ones that repeatedly dominated the “Billboard Top 100 Charts” and, of course, old Motown hits. 

I realized that I didn’t actually like the music I listened to and my current musical tastes didn’t reflect me as a person. So with the help of Spotify, I did a bit of digging and some pretentious soul searching and found that my preferred tastes in music cannot be defined by the Billboard music charts. My music tastes are eclectic and typically vary depending on my mood, but my constants are Alternative, Folk/Indie, Blues, R&B, Hip-Hop (when I can understand the words), and Country.

There is so much more music to be heard than what’s playing on the radio. You shouldn’t limit yourself to basic radio stations. You’re in college now, update your life and get internet radio or music apps like Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, 8tracks, and Apple Music. Most of these apps are free and/or have a premium option with a student discount – so do yourself a favor and invest in your musical future.