Warner Bros. Records’ R.E.M. and leading social music discovery service iLike announced today that Accelerate, the best-selling rock band’s 14th studio album, will stream in its entirety exclusively on iLike and its syndicates beginning March 24th.

A first for the company, the iLike Worldwide Listening Party will continue through March 26th, six days before the album’s North American release on April 1st, 2008. Additionally, R.E.M. will record an exclusive video message introducing and discussing the album that will be available via iLike for distribution across the Web.

In addition to being available on iLike’s website, the iLike Worldwide Accelerate Listening Party and exclusive R.E.M. video message will debut through the iLike Sidebar desktop plugin for iTunes and Windows Media Player, as well as across the Web via iLike’s leading applications on Facebook, Bebo, hi5, and for the iPhone. To listen to R.E.M’s Accelerate and watch the band’s exclusive video message, please visit - www.iLike.com/R.E.M

Forget the traditional radio premiere: R.E.M.’s new album, “Accelerate,” is set to debut on the social networking application iLike.

The roll-out, the first of its kind for a major act, will allow fans to stream and share “Accelerate” in its entirety beginning March 24, a week ahead of the album’s April 1 U.S. release date.

“It was one of those ideas that was presented to us and it seemed like a good one so we ran for it,” R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe told Billboard.com.

He also noted that the way people embrace music “has certainly changed in the last 5 or 10 years. I think you can either go with it or sit back and watch it happen, and I would rather be out on the field than in the bleachers.”

Accompanied by an exclusive video of the band talking about the album, the iLike launch will make the 11-song set freely available to anyone using iLike.com, Facebook, iTunes or any of the other social networks and sites that offer an iLike application for their platforms.

The iLike premiere of “Accelerate” is R.E.M.’s latest example of using direct-to-listener online initiatives to present their music. The band recently launched a Web site of raw footage and invited visitors to edit their own video for the album’s first single, “Supernatural Superserious.” The trio has also been doling out downloadable glimpses of the new material one day at a time via Ninetynights.com.

Three global record companies have launched legal proceedings against China’s top Internet search engine, Baidu.com Inc, accusing it of violating copyright by giving access to music files, an international music trade body said.

Universal Music Ltd, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) Ltd and Warner Music Hong Kong Ltd have asked a court to order Baidu (BIDU.O: Quote,Profile, Research) to remove all links on its music delivery service to copyright-infringing tracks they own the rights to, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in a statement.

The claims have been filed with a court in Beijing, said IFPI, which is backed by global music industry heavyweights.

Separate action is also being taken by Universal Music Ltd, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) Ltd, Warner Music Hong Kong Ltd, as well as Gold Label Entertainment Ltd against Chinese media firm Sohu.com Inc (SOHU.O: Quote, Profile,Research) and its search engine, Sogou, the statement added.

In January 2007 Baidu and EMI Music, the fourth major global record company, launched an advertising-supported online music service in China.

Baidu’s shares fell 6.9 percent to close at $253.49 and Sohu’s shares fell 5.43 percent to $46.29 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday.

Yahoo China also faces proceedings after refusing to comply with a ruling in December by the Beijing Higher People’s Court, which confirmed the company violated Chinese law by committing mass copyright infringement, IFPI added.