How do you decide on new music to buy?

I read a lot of music reviews from various music mags, such as Downbeat, Blues Review, Gramophone, TAS, Stereophile, TSS, etc. Then I usually go to a couple of Internet sites to see if I can find clips of the music to listen to. Tower Records often has sound clips for albums that it is selling -- they are only 30 second clips of various tracks, but they still give you a decent idea of the material and the performances.

Downbeat mag recently started a subscription service ($18.75 for 3 months) that allows you to access a number of recordings of all types: rock, jazz, blues, country, hiphop, folk, New Age, reggae, gospel and soul, etc., and then listen to and download entire songs. If the Downbeat site interests you, I made a post about it several weeks ago which contains more info and how to sign up. (The nice part of this service is that there are no "Napster" issues -- everything is licensed, so you get music fairly cheaply while the artists still get their piece of the pie.)

1) Reviews in various publications
2) Browsing in local record store, where they allow you to listen before you buy

I would recommend you go to www.knba.org and stream the radio station. They play eclectic and amazing stuff below the "radar" of commercial schlock. They also feature David Dye's World Cafe which I would recommend to anybody checking out new artists. I have been introduced to some fabulous artists such as Patti Griffith, Eliza Glickenstyn, Willy Porter, Anders Osborne, and Greg Brown just to name a very few. They also played David Gray like four years ago before he exploded with "white ladder". Happy Listening

I use many of the techniques noted above, but the last several months, I've been exchanging "sampler" CDRs w/ other A'Gon members and have really come up with some great new artists-- well, new to me. These include Allison Moorer, Alison Krauss, and Jacintha. Other A'gon members have gottem me started on Shirley Horn, Diana Krall and some I can't think of.

I mostly HATE to read music reviews unless they are very specific about the type of music they are taliking about. So often, the reviewer gets into some kind of $(*)%#@*(^%$# deep rooted-emotional-psychoanalysis of the singer/group, and in general write for themselves or other reviewers in a manner that leaves me wondering what the hell they said, or even what type of music they are talking about. Sorry, pet peeve of mine. Craig.

Notice how no one mentions conventional radio. (Now, maybe instead of 'radio', we should just call it 'ClearChannel'.)

A decent number of my finds came from an AP 'best 100 albums of the 90s' article/thing, including My Bloody Valentine's fantastic 'Loveless'. And often I will note what some artist i already like enjoys.