It's not too late to discover the best of '08

December 29, 11:20 PMChicago Indie Music ExaminerJyn Radakovits

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A few of the top choices for indie downloads and streams rated

As the year wraps up, maybe you haven't yet discovered all the musical treats that made up the last year.  So where does one find the best in streaming and independent downloads other than Itunes and Rhapsody- even for free?

Ijigg has a community for indie artist to post for their listeners and potential new fans.  With the ability to keep changing the top rated list according to listens, it keeps a healthy sense of competition about the site.  Ijigg allows for users to also download their findings and share the tunage among their friend list in a way that rivals music on those other social network sites.

Jamendo has managed to fly below the radar when its come to being picked at by the labels and manages to host over 2500 downloads of free content to its users. 

Stagefm allowing bands the ability to distribute without label involvement has allowed for Stagefm to stay cheap and allow often free content on its various channels.

AmazonMP3 boasting to be better than those other guys (Napster, Itunes, Rhapsody), AmazonMP3 does have over 8 million titles to choose from and the unique ability to buy directly in MP3 format unlike Amazon.com.

Emusic although it takes a subscription, Emusic doesn't often contract with labels and signed bands if possible allowing their catalog of emerging artist and independent bands to rival the content on many other services.

Tunecore in a unique position to distribute content to sites like Amazon.com, Itunes, Emusic, and Rhapsody, even Nine Inch Nails trusted Tunecore to distribute their Ghosts I-IV.

Lastfm makes the list for the scrobbling feature where users can have their friends view what they have listened to and royalty programs for the unsigned bands but has recently had its content provided by Warner yanked from the site just as it previously did with Youtube.

Lastly making the list, Amiestreet where indie artists thrive with the ability to upload and release their own content and allow fans to rate their music by the community.  Where all tracks start off as free, as a song climbs the charts, gradually the cost of the track goes up as reward to the artist.