Everyone says you've got to network. Nobody tells you where. So you end up posting a beat on your normal Instagram, getting a couple of likes off your mates, and quietly deciding collaboration isn't for you.
It is. You're just looking in the wrong places. Here's where people are actually finding producers, singers, writers and engineers to work with right now, and what each spot is genuinely good and bad at, because none of them are perfect.
Unglamorous, free, and it still works better than most things people pay for. r/makinghiphop runs a collaboration and feedback thread every week, and honestly that one thread is worth more than a month of cold DMs. r/WeAreTheMusicMakers is the broad one — every instrument, every genre, massive. If you're deep in a particular sound there are smaller subs like r/trapproduction or the DAW-specific ones (r/FL_Studio, r/ableton) where everyone's already on the same page.
The catch: Reddit hates a hit-and-run. Drop a link and vanish and you'll get buried. Comment on other people's stuff first, give a bit before you ask for anything, and it pays off.
Discord
A lot of the chat that used to live on forums has moved here. There's a server for pretty much every DAW and every scene, plus loads of type-beat and producer communities. It's where most producers actually talk to each other day to day now — sending half-finished ideas, arguing about mixes, that sort of thing. Real friendships come out of it more than transactions, which is rather the point.
The downside is finding the good ones. Discord servers don't show up in a search; you hear about them from someone already inside. So ask around.
The DMs are basically email now. Find someone whose voice or sound fits what you do, watch their stuff for a week so you're not a complete stranger, then send something specific. Not "let's collab" — something like "your last hook would sit so well on this, have a listen." The specific messages get replies. The generic ones get left on read.
It's brilliant for reaching people who'd never sign up to a music site. It's rough on signal, though — everyone's pitching everyone, and you're landing in a requests folder next to fifty other people doing exactly the same thing.
SoundCloud
Underrated for this. Forget your own uploads for a second and look at the comments on tracks that sound like yours. The people leaving actual thoughtful comments are already in your lane and already paying attention, and that's a far warmer start than a cold message. The only real snag is there's no "I'm looking for a vocalist" button, so it's all manual digging.
BandLab
It's a free DAW with a social layer bolted on, so collaboration is sort of built in and the barrier to starting is tiny. Plenty of newer producers cut their teeth here. Just know it skews very beginner, so if you've got a few years behind you, finding people at your level takes a bit of patience.
Facebook groups
Not dead, whatever the jokes say. UK producer groups, genre groups, "[your city] musicians" groups — there's someone posting "anyone need a vocalist this week?" in most of them most days, and the crowd tends to be a touch older and more committed than you'd expect. You do have to be on Facebook in 2026, mind, which is its own thing.
Actual real life
The highest hit-rate thing on this whole list isn't online at all. Open mic nights, producer meetups, studio sessions, the music society at your uni, local rap nights. One decent conversation in a room beats a hundred ignored DMs, because the trust is already there — you've met, you're real, you're not just a username. The obvious limit is reach. You can only be in one room at a time.
Tonivo
Right, this one's us, so take it with that in mind. We built Tonivo because everywhere else on this list is somewhere people happen to be, not somewhere built for finding people to make music with. On here your profile already says what you make, what you're into and who you're looking for, so you skip the awkward "so… what are you actually after?" part and get to the music quicker. It's free, there's no marketplace, and there's no algorithm trying to upsell you. We're newer than the big names, though, so the smart move is to use us alongside the rest of this list, not instead of it.
So where do you actually start
Pick two. Go properly deep on two of these rather than half-heartedly spraying links across all of them. Lead with your best work, say plainly what you're after, and send the message before you feel ready — it's never going to feel ready. The people with a solid group of collaborators this time next year aren't the most talented ones. They're the ones who kept turning up where the musicians were.