Just a few years ago it was headline news when a major artist would stream their new albums on MySpace. Now it's almost as much a requirement as releasing radio singles. The subject line of the e-mail I received today from MySpace's crack PR team gives a pretty good idea of how common the practice is:

EMINEM, TORI AMOS, LIONEL RICHIE, BUSTA RHYMES, METHOD MAN & REDMAN, KATE VOEGELE AND PHOENIX PREMIERE NEW ALBUMS EXCLUSIVELY ON MYSPACE MUSIC BEGINNING TODAY

What? No Passion Pit stream?

Eminem's Relapse, by the way, isn't as miserable as its singles suggest.