Warner Music stops free music streaming

The Warner Music Group, who represent artists such as R.E.M and Genesis (and more importantly for me, Death Cab for Cutie and Faith No More), have just announced that they no longer wish to license their music for online streaming services such as Spotify, Grooveshark and others. It's not clear at this point whether they will be taking their music down, or just not sign any more licensing deals with new streaming services.

Warner doesn't take issue with streaming per se. It's the free element which bugs them. They say they do want streaming, but it has to be paid. Most streaming services today are basically free and ad-supported, with a paid subscription option which then lets you enjoy the service with no ads. Obviously, most people never subscribe and just go with the ads.

This is not the first stand Warner Music makes against free streaming. Back in December 2008 they had a major disagreement with YouTube over videos featuring their music, which has not really been resolved up until now. I guess this boils down to a simple question: Will Warner Music change the market, or will the market eventually change Warner Music? I think we can guess the answer to that.

[Via: BBC News]

[UPDATE: Spotify are telling us that Warner Media are not pulling out. I guess we'll see where this goes. Thanks to Marcus and Aemoney below for the tip!]