A year ago the indie music sites were just popping up all over the web, bringing exposure to indie music to an international audience. But today it seems many of these sites have since closed up shop. Off the to of my head Belle's Underground Market and Drown Music shut down in the past year or so, and truly this is a loss for those of us who attempt to support the indie music scene.
It also seems that in this same time commercial sites have grown in number and strength which is both a positive and a negative as we definitely need more options then just
Addicted to Noise and it's partner site
Sonicnet. But the fact that commercial music sites are eroding the number of smaller sites isn't so great. Further this mirrors the music industry as the thousands of indie bands go unheard while a handful of bands receive all the attention. Making it just that much harder to find something good to listen to.
Anyhow to get the point, I'm looking for new sites to read about "the next big thing" before they break, so if you have any suggestions for great music sites please drop me a note with suggestions.