Without dragging this down into the Napster argument again, I think that the 'replacements' will have to be Gnutella and the other copyright suspect Peer to Peer programs, at least until the current spate of buyouts are over.

Standard business practice in this climate is to do whatever it takes to make your business attractive to a buyer. In retrospect, it makes MP3.com's recent decisions a LOT more logical. The reason that people were getting the impression that they were making choices without considering the people they served is because they WEREN'T - they were maximizing potential profit so that their service would look the best it possibly could for a corporate buyout.

So, watch out for the other services out there. They're businesses, and they're entering a market period where the temptation to pump up the profits and sell out are obscene. As minimally effective as it is, if you're just starting out, the best choice may be to create a simple website and have your music available that way. Then, you already have it formatted and can just sit and observe a given service until you're certain you want to work with them...

My advice. Take it for what you feel it's worth.

M