WBR politics led to R.E.M. breakup

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I suspected this was coming last fall. If you remember, they weathered a lot of storms in this business, and have always operated on their own terms. [Warner Bros.] changed starting last September, and I think the demands on a band now to get a record out were more than they might have wanted to commit. I can understand that after how hard they worked for how long, the thought of going back to 'paying dues' with new label staff, in a very weird industry, was too much."— Ethan Kaplan, owner of the R.E.M. fan community Murmurs and former SVP of Emerging Technology at Warner Bros. Records, interviewed on rollingstone.com. (9/22a)