International music offers variety

With the advent of Amazon.com, iTunes, and less legitimate means for acquiring music, listening to a diverse selection of music is easier to access now than ever before.

Not only are rare CDs easier to find and purchase, but aspiring and independent musicians are also having an easier time publicizing themselves without help of outdated media conglomerates.

However, the public still relies on MTV and FM radio for exposure to new artists, keeping the general population limited to the same small subset of music that the recording industry deems worthy for mass consumption.

Even though weeks of music can be stored on a digital music player, many collections still only contain an archive of what listeners hear on the radio.

Maybe you have a 60 GB iPod, but you feel bored with your 10,000-song collection and find that there is still something missing. If you have never listened to music from non English-speaking countries, you might find exactly what you want abroad.

Even if the foreign music sounds very similar to the music you already enjoy, diversity builds a truly varied music library.

If you secretly enjoy the music of Mrs. Kevin Federline, you could listen to the Japanese equivalent, Ayumi Hamasaki, or the French equivalent, Alizeé.

I am willing to admit that I enjoy pop music on occasion, but American pop music is played so repetitively on local radio that I cannot bear listening to it.

Pop music from other countries is usually just as upbeat and energetic, but the music does not suffer from the overexposure of local offerings. Instead, most of us will only hear the song when we play it from our own collection.

Asian artists are probably the most accessible online through services like YesAsia and as used CDs through auctions on eBay.

Anime fans on campus will appreciate J-Rock artists like Do As Infinity, who wrote the theme song for Inu Yasha, but the Asian artist appeal is hardly limited to Dragon*Con attendees.

Many American artists have very similar equivalents in other countries, and these can be a good stepping stone if you do not know where to get started.

Tommy heavenly6 is a good Japanese counterpart to Avril Lavigne, but if you value more cheerful vocals then check out Every Little Thing.

Japanese artists Namie Amuro and Bennie K cover the urban genre along with Korean artist Lee Hyori.

Plenty of other artists fit into known genres as well. Many American fans already know the industrial metal sound of Rammstein, who parody American culture in their music video for the song "Amerika."

Finnish band Nightwish combines Metallica with an opera singer for a very creative style. Spanish artist Julieta Venegas has a great singer-songwriter sound, and Chilean band Los Jaivas does folk rock with a strong lead guitar.

Some international artists manage to cross over into the American music scene, and the Latin artists like Gloria Estefan and Jennifer Lopez tend to be the most successful. However for every successful crossover, however, there are plenty of failed ones.

Japanese artist Utada Hikaru made a failed bid in 2004 as "Utada" with her sole English album Exodus, which gained little praise and violated the artist's previously proven style.

Some artists like Sigur Rós manage to have successful niche American releases of their native albums without converting to English lyrics.

However, most others will be inaccessible in typical brick-and-mortar stores, and even online sites like Amazon.com mark them as imports and can charge upward of $40 per CD.

If you want to purchase music from abroad without breaking the bank, used CDs are often available on eBay or just preview songs from a huge library on Last.fm.

I will admit to being very new to international music myself. If any recommendations are close to your favorite genres, take a chance and listen. Then you are able to make more informed music purchases.