This thread is now over 10 years old. Quite a few of the songs and artists I discovered from this thread are still very much in rotation for me.
In that time the way people regard and consume music has completely changed. For much of the world access to music has become ubiquitous, and revenue can now be generated from each listen. Ironically none of the technological advances and mountains of user data has made streaming services any good at turning you on to new music. The best way to discover new stuff is still just talking to friends. The number of artist is becoming so vast that just about every person you meet is guaranteed to be into something you would very much like yet have never heard of.