Originally Posted by Rustyspoon#
30 years ago, unless you had a friend or two who had a taste and a collection of non-commercial music, how would you broaden your horizons?
Speaking personally, 30 years ago I used to go to record stores and browse around what they had, mostly but not exclusively in the World and Jazz categories. I'd look at the label, the producer, the artistes, the effort that went into the presentation. I'd usually buy based just on those, though sometimes I'd listen to some in the store (one can't really listen to enough that way). Most of my buys were good, a few were duds I just put down to experience. Talking to the right people in the store often highlighted good choices, too.

I guess I started buying like that when I ran the mobile disco. There just wasn't time or opportunity to listen to and review all the new releases, so I'd buy on the Saturday morning, spend the middle of the day listening, evaluating, cataloguing, and in the evening I'd roll out some of the new stuff at a gig. I bought mostly 12" singles and albums, so there was a lot of listening.

Back in my teens and early 20s it was mostly word of mouth.

Today record stores are no more, so I'm back to word of mouth and browsing the Web. The occasional CD at a concert.

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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