Everyone’s on a budget. It’s been tough to keep up with the latest and greatest in indie rock with a tight budget over the last couple of years–especially since my favorite way to absorb the sounds is by listening to whole albums straight through, repeatedly.

Here are a few tips to grab some new tunes on a tight budget. I just recently came across www.Dada.net, which offers a music subscription service of 50 DRM-free downloads for $9.99/mo. They also offer a 7 day free trial of 25 FREE DOWNLOADS. I used this opportunity to download some hot tracks by Phoenix, “Listzomania” and “1901.” But you can also nab the new album by The Decemberists, “Hazards of Love,” or “Absence” by Paper Route or possibly a Ryan Adams album you might have missed.

Another option for DRM free subscription service is eMusic.com. You might have seen them promoted by fellow music bloggers at The Hype Machine. Their free trial is also 25 FREE DOWNLOADS, but over a 14 day period. I checked this out and came away with “Get Guilty” by Canadian extraordinaire A.C. Newman and most of the tracks from the phenomenal Dark Was the Night compilation put out by Red Hot.

Perhaps my favorite way to stay in the know with the indie music I crave is by listening to Sirius XMU — XM 43. Satellite radio might not be an option for everybody, but you can acquire a device like Audiovox’s Mini Tuner of a Belkin antenna for under $15 bucks and subscribe to the Mostly Music package for $9.99/mo.

Finally, music blogs are a great way to hear about a new band or album before your buddy. Some blogs such as My Old Kentucky Blog and Gorilla Vs. Bear post free downloads on a regular basis, including some from their Blog Radio shows on Sirius SMU. Others, such as www.ObscureSound.com post downloadable playlists of their favorite tracks of the month.

Great music is out there for the finding and it doesn’t have to cost the full retail price of $14.99 an album. Amazon.com offers a lot of albums for digital download at a reduced price and even runs specials–I recently got Mieka Paulley’s “Elijah Drop Your Gun” for free and Silversun Pickups “Swoon” for $3.99. To get the most for your money, stay tuned for the latest on what’s hot.