Various Artists: Fresh Tracks

Every region of the country has numerous bands that are big in a given area, but obscure outside a small web of college towns and hometown haunts. Each sells a few thousand records, draws respectable local crowds, and maybe even attracts the occasional record-label A&R scout. The people at Chicago-based Fresh Tracks have found a way to capitalize on this phenomenon while promoting struggling bands: by providing a subscription service to ambitious music buyers interested in exposing themselves to largely unheard regional acts. For $14.95 a month, you get a member magazine and two full-length CDs from groups like Swerve (San Diego), Soup (Atlanta), Hello Dave (Chicago), and Spider Monkey (St. Augustine). Whether you decide to plunk down the cash—subscriptions are available in increments of two months to a year—depends on how dedicated you are to discovering unsigned bands that don't necessarily tour through your hometown. Though the selections have generally been appealing in a safe sort of way—Swerve's Sugar Fix, for example, is a briskly likable slab of power-pop, but Soup is a relatively bland, Hootie-style frat-rock band—you're bound to end up spending some of your money on music you don't like. That your two ambiguous subscription options are "roots rock" and "alternative rock" doesn't bode particularly well, either. The used-record-store bins are littered with the 99-cent remains of acts like these; if you have the time, money and storage space to discover the undiscovered, you'd do well to start by digging through the bargain bins and leave the $15-a-month subscriptions to the A&R guys. (www.freshtrack.com)