What is your source for discovering new music?


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I use Pandora primarily. Every now and then I get new discoveries on the internet jazz radio stations.

The local FM jazz station used to be my only source. I knew no other jazz fans personally. The SqueezeBox has opened up a whole new world for me.
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128x128mitch4t
Blue Coast Records, Concord Music Group, HD Tracks, Linn Records, Naim Music.Com, Internet Archive, Itrax.com, 2L recordings, Reference Recordings, Opus3 Records. Analouge Productions, Acoustic Sounds. Get started with these. That should take you awhile and give you many styles and genre to discover.
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weird thing for me, is when I search for a jazz title on Amazon.com I will then view the "what other people bought in addition to this" (or whatever it's called)and I see other titles and get to listen to snipets of them.. I have bought several cd's that way of artists I was formerly not familiar with. BTW I am mainly an LP guy.
In the 1990's I'd scour thrift stores for albums of decent physical quality; 50 cents to two bucks per record was cheap for my early music education.

Today I surf Pitchfork.com for new music, listen to 88.5 KPLU out of Seattle for jazz (past and present), CBC Radio 2 is our public station here in Canada and features many artists weekly; check out each station's respective website for more info and past shows.

I agree with Xiekitchen that purchasing titles through Amazon can lead to new, happy surprise purchases. I've found The Absolute Sound to be quite good for reviewing music from all genres. Just look for a MySpace page of the artist you're interested in as they'll have songs to stream.

Finally, I subscribe to ElusiveDisc emails which I find to be helpful in acquiring quality LP's; albeit, expensive ones!
local college radio station WIDR and internet radio WFMU

I often buy more than a CD each week...
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I read posts from members of AudiogoN and Head-Fi. I ask friends. I look throughout the internet. Progarchives has given me new music. As have many others.
on itunes there is a channel under country called boot liquor/somafm. on this channel there are many new americana artists to enjoy.
like Baka, I rely on Audiogon Forums...I have started a couple "looking for xxxx type of music" threads here and people have come back with some thoughtful responses and outstanding recommendations... I have purchased several artists/titles suggested by members (and have added many new entries to my Amazon 'wish list').
i think pandora is the best tool for finding artists in the precise styles you like; i've grown lukewarm on xm/sirius, which like any broad commercial enterprise requires wading through alot of chaff to get to the good stuff. public libraries, at least around here, are also veritable treasure troves of good music and are a no-cost, no-risk way to sample. among publications, i find myself typically agreeing with allmusic and big takeover and disagreeing with pitchfork.
wfuv (90.7 FM) in New York, wfuv.org streaming on the web. Mostly folk-rock, rock, blues. Listener supported, commercial free.

Neal
Mainly Amazon.com recommendations for me. But I will pick up things on a whim in the used record store (like Elizabeth) too.
I've fallen in love with hard bop jazz.
04-07-11: Krusty2k
I understand that love. Hard Bop is about all I listen to. Grooveshark is another great source for discovering new music. (Hard Bop too). Krusty2k, at Grooveshark, check out the "THE COMPLETE VEE JAY LEE MORGAN - WAYNE SHORTER SESSIONS," a Hard Bop treasure!
I'm with Nglazer plus WFMU -- West Orange, NJ has lots of extreamely interesting new music.
I also follow musicians and producers from creative 80's bands, ECM record label(that less-likey will have John Bon Jovi LOL!), Subharmonic, Trilok, Avan and other recordd labels that mainly have creative musicians aside of 'Kings of ...' and other poppies.
Internet radio mostly.

Sometimes friends also interested in music will bring some new stuff by to give a listen to.

Public library on occasion.

I'll do some digging on various internet sites where users post reviews and comments on specific material as well when time permits.

I'll do an occasional raid on budget used vinyl for a couple bucks or less also when I get a chance, but I much prefer a quick rip to music server where I can quickly find and sort through new material as needed.
I second 90.7 WFUV in new york it's member supported and streaming on the web. disclaimer: I'm also a member. It's not an exageration to say They're probably the first station to play Adell, Amos Lee, Norah jones and John Mayer. They even have their own recording studio where all sorts of artists come in and record songs which become available on cd during their member drives. They're called City Folk live. All excellent and from what I hear fetch a pretty penny on ebay
I go to a few review blogs:
Blastitude
Brainwashed
Still Single
Tiny Mix Tapes
sometimes pitchfork.

Some bulletin board chatter:
Board.crewcial
Termbo

Yes on FMU.

I talk to people at record stores and ask them, what are you listening to. I buy about 10 LP's a week, some 7"'s, tapes.

I run a record label so new music is always welcome to my ears.

I go to thrift stores, used shops and dig as well.

A nice stereo is great, but its to play the music for me.
I am a VMPS speaker owner/agent since buying the speakers and have many listeners over to hear them. They bring their music, much of which is both excellent sounding and good music. I then go on Amazon.com and order them up on cd. Also, I ask the guys and gals who buy and sell equipment from me what some of their favorites are and I often buy what they recommend and sometimes their picks are awesome in every way.
-Agon Forum
-The back of Sterophile and The Absolute Sound
-Equipment reviews
-Independent Radio stations
-You Tube
-Austin City Limits
-iTunes (also used to sample along with Amazon)
-My employees

I used to catch new (to me) acts on Saturday Night Live and David Letterman, but it seems that my tastes have changed and/or the material there has gotten kind of stale.
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I've never had much luck buying records without ever hearing any songs on the LP or cd. So, I stay away from cd and LP bargain bins unless I'm familiar with the title, no matter how much I'm familiar with the artist. That's why Pandora and internet radio has been such a boon for me. I get to hear the songs first. Oh, and I forgot the Rhapsody music service. Rhapsody is phenomenal, it allows me to choose the artist and title and listen in its entirety before I purchase.
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I go to Spin every Sunday. We sign up and play 2 songs each time. VINYL only BTW. The people who go vary in age from their early twenties to the late sixties and play different types of music. I have found music from the very old days to more current and things in between. The best part is finding music I thought I would not like or even knew about, and then going out to find it the following week in my travels.
Hevac reminded me that I also pick up a lot of newer pop/dance oriented stuff at the gym doing Les Mill's choreographed exercise classes.

If I hear something I like, I usually download the .mp3 for 99 cents or so from Amazon, if I can find it there.

Kinda reminds me of the good old days as a kid hitting the local department store (JC Penny) and picking up the latest tune I heard on the radio on 45 rpm "vinyl" for about the same price.

Hey, at least the album art pops up on my controller when the downloaded music plays! Most old 45s had no cover art although some of the label artwork was cool. Small favors!
Listing sources in no particular order:

Fellow members of the Houston Audio Society
Half Price Bookstore in Greater Houston Area
Amazon.com
Audiogoners
Pandora
Reviews particularly equipment reviews where the reviewer used certain albums to evaluate the equipment in question.

Last but not least I keep going back to the thread I created on Audiogon way back in 2003 which has till today received 200 responses. This thread is brimming with some fabulous music and can be a great resource for any music lover who is looking to find interesting music to discover. I am providing the link here for you to check out. I hope it will prove useful.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?gmusi&1070546159&openfrom&151&4#151
HDTracks, and ITunes. Treat myself when I hav a real good day at work. Took me forever to get out of habit of buying album, keep tryin' new tunes till I hit one says "yeah". After couple days maybe come back buy rest.
(1) New release emails from H&B Direct.
(2) Pandora. Quality is low, but it's OK at the office.
I have to be very selective what I buy now, I am overflowing with software, with nowhere else to put them.
1) I agree with Tom6897 list of labels to look for, but would add ECM and Stockfisch. Buy almost anything on ECM and there is a lot, great recording and artists and a knack for throwing odd artists together. There is a wonderful recent CD called Officium, pairing Jan Garbarek's Jazz saxophone with the Hilliard ensemble, an early music ensemble, it's great.

2) I agree also about Amazon, but look to user reviews and you can choose ratings as a filter in a search.

3) Of the print magazines, I find HiFi+ the best to introduce new artists

4) HiFi shows, that's one reason I go. You always find some new music being demonstrated in the rooms.
Mainly forums...music threads, and recommendations from friends. Sometimes youtube.
here's a really fun and nicely recorded new find:

we no speak americano by yolanda be cool.

I like roaming the Web with my Ipod Touch into the new ID100 digital dac from Cambridge audio...into a DacMagic.

I am mainly using the incredibly cheap .99 cents InTune app for hundreds of FM stations and Web radios from around the world.

I especially like the SKY specialized stations, showing cover art, and mainly pretty decent sound.

If I like something I touch the ''record'' button in TuneIn so I can go back and do a search on the artits that strikes me as interesting.
Its truly amazing how easy it is to discover new music these days with digital audio and the internet compared to when I was a kid. Then, it was a few am and fm radio stations that were more varied than most today but still paled in comparison.

Nowadays, its more like there are so many options, which to use and spend time with?
Our local PBS / NPR station has some amazing music shows such as Brazilian on Wednesday nights, blues show on Friday nights, Mountain Stage, World Cafe and a show called Open Tunings. This combined with Amazon recommending music based on music I've ordered.