Drowing in a sea of pop

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

This discussion got kind of lost in the last chart poll comments - I think it deserves its own thread.

Do you feel overwhelmed by the vast swathes of music out there? How do you keep up? Or do you just listen to the same old stuff 90% of the time?

Where do you usually hear new music? Radio, telly, blogs, random interwebs... or poptimists? If we don't know about something, is it the record label's fault for not promoting the artist?

Also - have you ever experienced music 'fatigue' (as mcarralata mentions in that other thread)?

Comments

[sbp.livejournal.com]

I hear some new music at work, if it's a bit independent. I have a number of artists that I will buy the latest thing regardless. I go to gigs, and occasionally will see a good support act that will have a Myspace page, and links to other good unknown acts. Which is how I heard of Age of Rockets and Ingrid Michaelson after Jenny Owen Youngs supported Aimee Mann last summer.

I rarely hear what's in the top 10 and hardly ever listen to radio. So the other thing is friends forcing music on me, which currently tends to be either minimal techno (Kompact etc) or alt.country (Wilco, Blanche, Raconteurs).

Very occasionally I might pick something up via YouTube, or by reading about the artist in a magazine.