Fans of Social Distortion today got another taste of the L.A. punk warriors’ forthcoming ‘Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes’ this week with the premiere of the track ‘California (Hustle and Flow)’ on the L.A. Times’ Pop & Hiss blog.

R.E.M. has posted a ‘lyric video’ to the song ‘Oh My Heart,’ the third track off the forthcoming ‘Collapse Into Now’ to make its way onto the web in the last three weeks.

Public radio program Studio 360 is streaming a new piece on the inclusion of R.E.M.’s ‘Radio Free Europe’ in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry and a special bonus concert from the early ’80s recorded in Athens, Ga. Hear both here.

KMFDM is offering up a free new song called ‘Rebels in Control’ in support of WikiLeaks and as a protest against the denial-of-service attacks mounted on services such as PayPal and MasterCard that were allowing supporters to contribute funds to the embattled organization.

While U2 hasn’t yet unveiled the tracklist for its next fanclub CD, called ‘U2: Duals,’ the band today offered U2.com members a sneak peak in the form of ‘Amazing Grace/Where the Streets Have No Name,’ a track featuring Bono and Co. and the Soweto Gospel Choir that was created last summer for the World Cup. Hear it here.

Fans of The Smiths are reveling in an unexpected Christmas gift this week with the appearance of a bootleg LP featuring 16 unreleased studio outtakes, including the scrapped original recording of ‘Sheila Take a Bow,’ a reggae-like take on ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’ and two previously unheard instrumentals.

Twisted troubadour Robyn Hitchcock is opening his vaults slightly to fans, this week posting a streaming collection of a dozen covers — recorded both live and in the studio recently — of songs by David Bowie, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Johnny Cash, the Grateful Dead and Nick Drake.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are treating their fans to a special gift each day leading up to Christmas as a thank-you for their support this year, beginning with a free MP3 of ‘Sister Marie Says’ (Soil In The Synth Remix), a new mix of the ‘History of Modern’ single.

Just days after R.E.M. started giving away MP3s of the opening track to 2011’s ‘Collapse Into Now,’ a second song — ‘It Happened Today,’ featuring Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder on backing vocals — from the album has hit the web after it was released as a single digitally in other parts of the world.

R.E.M. today released a free MP3 of ‘Discoverer,’ the opening track off its new album ‘Collapse Into Now’ — which will be released March 7 in the U.K. and March 8 in the U.K. via Warner Bros. Download it here.

Members of R.E.M.’s fan club have begun receiving their annual holiday single in the mail, and, like last year’s, the 2010 installment features the return of departed drummer Bill Berry on a cover of Darlene Love’s classic ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ — as well as an instrumental mashup of three tracks off the band’s forthcoming album ‘Collapse Into Now.’

Sub Pop Records today offered up the first taste of Dinosaur Jr frontman J Mascis’ forthcoming record ‘Several Shades of Why’ — an acoustic collection that’s actually his first-ever studio solo album — in the form of a free download of the track ‘Not Enough.’

Gang of Four this week teased fans with a free three-track digital EP of unreleased material, including a re-recorded version of ‘Glass’ off the band’s 1979 debut ‘Entertainment!’ Download it here.