There was a time when you could keep track of new music releases by checking in at your local record store, but we live in a different world now. Apple's iTunes alone offers over 28 million different songs you can purchase, and there are a huge amount of different bands. With access to a much wider world of music, everyone seems to have their own tastes and their own favorite artists.

You've already found bands and artists you love -- but how are you going to know when they release new music albums? You could keep an eye on each band's website, but that takes too much precious time you could be using for other things.

Streaming Music Service Notifications

If you're using an all-you-can-listen-to music streaming service like Spotify or Rdio, your service likely has built-in alerts for new releases of artists you already listen to. For example, Rdio will show you notifications for new releases by artists you've added music from to your collection.

There's one big limitation here: You'll only see alerts when the music is added for streaming on the service. In other words, you'll see alerts for old albums that are made available for streaming, but you won't be alerted to new releases until they're available for streaming on your service of choice. You may not hear about a new release until a few weeks or months after it's released. This may be a blessing in disguise if you only want to stream music for casual listening and aren't particular about release dates. But then, you may also be annoyed that you missed the latest album from your favorite band for months.

Dedicated Websites with Email & RSS Alerts

There are many different websites that will send you emails when your favorite artists release new music. Try Album Reminder, TuneViper, or muspy. Some of these services also offer alerts via RSS, so you can learn of new albums in your RSS reader of choice.  And, of course, you can also check the website itself to see a list of recent album releases from the list of artists you give to the website.

Some services also offer bonus features. For example, TuneViper will also email you when one of your favorite artists is coming to your town for a concert. Album Reminder even allows you to import a list of artists from your iTunes library, so you can get up and running quickly.

iTunes Alerts

iTunes also has an integrated alerts system for new music releases. If you enable it, you'll receive an email when new music from artists you listen to is released on iTunes. If you've purchased music on iTunes, you'll receive alerts for new music from the artists you've purchased from and from artists you already have in your iTunes music library.

To configure alerts, click the name of your account in iTunes and select Account. Scroll down on the Account Information page and click the Manage link to the right of Alert Me.

Configure your alert settings on this page. iTunes will send email alerts to the email address associated with your account.

Smartphone Alerts via Google Now

You may also want to look at setting up alerts on your smartphone. For example, Android's Google Now allows you to set up reminders for your favorite music artists. Search for a music artist on Google from your smartphone and you'll see a Remind Me button on Google's knowledge graph panel. Tap it and you'll receive alerts via Google Now for new music from the band. This also works for TV shows, movie actors, filmmakers, and authors. This feature appears to only be available in the US at the moment, but it will hopefully roll out internationally soon.

We wouldn't be surprised to also see this feature make its way to the Google Search app for iPhone and iPad, which includes Google Now.

More Options

Sure, you could also follow the artist on Twitter, subscribe to their blog's RSS feed, or even regularly check websites that list all the music albums released recently -- but you'll see a lot of noise and this will quickly become time-consuming if you want to keep track of quite a few different music artists. The options above will sift through the noise for you, sending you only new music releases that you may be interested in.

How do you keep track of the latest music from the artists you love? Leave a comment below, especially if you prefer using another method!

Image Credit: Incase on Flickr