Not sure if these apply to the NYC scene as I'm speaking from Vancouver, but a couple of things I've found help including:
-focusing on smaller venues, they have a better crowd anyway, have newsletters you can follow, find new bands, and are going to be cheaper than big venues. bars especially will have some cool performers and often won't even charge you to get in (esp if you arrive before the set)
-enter radio contests! I won tickets this way last year, obviously a long shot but a lot of radio stations and event promo companies will do monthly contests. The promo companies also often have newsletters to stay tuned to what's going on
-find presale codes on reddit or search StubHub for cheaper tickets. My friend just saw death cab for cutie and the postal service tickets for $7 (lol) a couple of hours before the show started. I think people drop their prices right towards the end sometimes, not a guarantee obviously.
-ABS (always be searching lol) I look for shows in a variety of ways like the newsletters and venues listed above, but also like songkick and Spotify for notifying me of events for artists I like. This is mostly just to be able to keep track of the smaller artists I like as their tickets are likely to be cheaper than the stadium performers.