Being a creative music consumer/listener?

What ways can a music listener or consumer help out the music scene? Aside from just buying CDs or merchandise from my favorite artists, how can one be creative in these endeavors without being an actual musician?

I know during my teen years I adopted an ongoing daydream of making music or being a musician but I know the kind of schedule and lifestyles of 'serious' musicians does not fit my own lifestyle and I would not have the energy or motivation to do gigs, tours, production, etc. So I don't know if I would be a musician on that kind of scale, but I wanted to get into guitar/bass since they're the only instrument that I enjoy both the sound and feel of. I used to consider myself a techie keyboardist but I found out that, despite being a fan of synthpop for instance, I don't really like synthesizers or even pianos as something I'd want to play.

But still, what kind of stuff can I be doing to help make the music world better? Like should I be actively involved with some musicians in promotion or something? Most of my favorite musicians are japanese so it's hard to find local artists I actually want to back as a roadie or street team would. I guess I could write reviews for exposure to this music but I'm not sure if that would do much as there's too much of it competing for people's time, so I am in a rut kind of. Let me know what you can suggest.

Start by creating a Muckie's Giant All-Encompassing Japanese Rock Mega Thread and write about all those bands you like. I'd be interested in reading what you have to say or hearing recommendations.

i think we could create new genre discussions

You'd be surprised how many people you can reach with a review. I get hits on my blog for reviews I wrote four years ago. I use my blog to promote the bands that I like and I would think an English language review/news blog on Japanese bands would be a niche that you could fill. Every review helps small time bands and they are very appreciative. I've been thanked in liner notes for the reviews I have written, so you can make a difference to these bands/artists.

I work at a sports arena. It doesn't happen much these days (stricter management), but in the past, I've gotten music played at hockey, basketball, lacrosse and indoor soccer games that would never been heard.

Whether it got noticed by fans or not, I have no idea. But getting King Diamond's 'No Presents for Christmas' played over the PA system during the holidays at a hockey game was fun for me. I also got a WASP tune played during team warm-ups. You won't hear that too often. And no, it wasn't 'Animal'. I wasn't looking to get fired.

I've also suggested music for team videos and crowd pump-up stuff. So I try and do my part to get the music I love out there to the unwashed masses.

Also, last weekend, I was wearing my Night Demon t-shirt and some dude asked me who they were. Maybe I got them a new fan.

In the internet age, there's a lot to be said for getting the word out.

It depends on the level of a given artist, but there's also a lot to be said for just putting a kind word in to let people know that what they're doing is having a positive impact.

I used to run a site that reviewed independently released comic books and I had a lot of good feeling come back my way from people whose work I reviewed favorably in cases where I was the first person to even give them a write-up. It may not have put them on the short list to have a multi-million dollar movie made of their intellectual property, but it made them feel like they'd progressed and maybe a few other people who read the site would go out and pick up their stuff as a result.