Have you heard of Contrastream?

I am a self-proclaimed music nerd. I love most any genre of music. I can even find pop songs that I enjoy. Still, I haven't listened to a radio station in years. I find my music online through Youtube videos, friends' suggestions, Last.FM and now Contrastream.

Contrastream is a very new music discovery service specially designed to expose you to great indie music. The site has just gone through a nice update since it's debut a month ago. On the front page you'll find the latest albums to be uploaded to the queues. You'll also find tabs for Upcoming albums, the Top Ranked Albums and New Releases.

If you click an album, you'll find a short review and a short audio sample for you to listen to. You can vote for the album by "hyping" it or you can vote it down by "dropping" it. Contrastream provides you with links to the artist's website, directs you in how to purchase the album and even has a comment section to discuss the album.

A recent addition to the features of Contrastream is the ability to private message other users. One of the features I have regretfully used least is the message board. I can't wait for a bigger community to flock to Contrastream so a bigger discussion of music can be made. Users are able to submit albums to the queue using a very simple form. Though, submissions are limited to albums that have readily available sites to purchase them from.

A few suggestions I'd make for the site is to have a list of related or similar albums on each album's profile.and a history of your comments on the user profiles. I'd also really enjoy a special section dedicated to bands with albums that are free for download. All in all, Contrastream really is an amazing music discovery service in its infancy. Navigating the website is fairly intuitive and I've found a lot of great music there. I highly suggest checking the site out and making yourself a profile.

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