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i have just read this in NME:

"free music streaming sites such as Spotify and We7 suffered a set back last week (feb 10) when Warner Brothers announced that they wouldn't allow music by their acts - including Muse and REM- appear on the services from now on. The Policy will affect future releases"

I'm sorry, but that is a load of bollocks. this whole 'free music is stealing' business is getting ridiculous now. you can't download off of Spotify anyway, you can only listen to songs from it. You may aswell ban people from sharing headphones with friends when listening to iPods on the train or while waiting for a bus. It is for listening to music, not downloading it or 'stealing' it. Muse and REM are huge bands and i highly doubt they would suffer from 'stealing' music anyway! Spotify, if anything, would benefit bands a great deal. Allowing people to listen to albums allows them to form some kind of opinion on the band or make sure they like an album before going out to buy it. Spotify can certify opinions and probably increase album sales. Admittidly, not everyone buys albums nowerdays, but these bands should be worrying about real music fans who do put money into their favourite bands and support them. Why should the band give a toss about people who are listening because they think the band are 'alright'? Singers should be focusing on real fans and on people who will buy their albums and support their work.