REM: the great beyond?

Rock bands and record companies are rethinking the entire model of the industry to disseminate their music.

American rock band REM will make 11 tracks from their 14th studio album, Accelerate, available for streaming and sharing a week before its release date. The album will be made available through the social music discovery service iLike, a widget used widely on Facebook, but also on iTunes and other social networking applications. As well as listening to the album in its entirety, iLike users will also be able to embed the album on their social-networking profile pages, and share the music with friends. People who want to buy the album will be able to do so via links to Amazon and iTunes from the iLike pages.

It is one of the highest profile uses of digital distribution yet, and could mark a move to music sharing via social networking. Major bands appear to have accepted that an increasing amount of music is accessed for free on the internet and are embracing a digital landscape in order to regain control -- albeit symbolic -- of their art. In October, Radiohead allowed fans to decide how much they were prepared to pay for new album In Rainbows, while earlier this month Trent Reznor released his latest Nine Inch Nails album online in a variety of formats, ranging from a free download to a limited-edition album.