Hasta La Gadget!

We are, it seems, one step closer to free music streaming on our shores. Swedish music service Spotify, which has pretty much conquered Europe from what we’re told, has just finalized a U.S. distribution deal with Sony Music, according to sources over at The Wall Street Journal.

Naturally, the service still has to ink a number of other deals–including a few more majors–before it can actually come over to our shores, but it’s certainly a start. Both Spotify and Sony have refused to comment on the deal, which has said to have been in the works for some months now (Spotify itself initially announced a 2010 US launch deadline for itself, which has clearly fallen by the wayside).

So, what’s taking Spotify so long? It’s pretty much the same old fear that has dominated the music industry since the birth of Napster. Unlike other streaming music sites, Spotify offers up a certain amount of free music every month–and as we know, the “f” word tends to freak out the folks run major labels…