completed Loud & Clear, but went on to finish all the main quests, now Maven is ruler of Riften, and i can't start Dampened Spirits, it doesn't even appear on my quest list, can anyone help please!

What patch do you currently have installed ?

After completing the quest http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Loud_and_Clear, if you do not ask Brynjolf why Maven Black-Briar is requesting a meeting, the quest will not become available. Also Brynjolf will not speak to you, saying only that he has "important tasks to be doing".

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dampened_Spirits

cheers, i'll give it a try

checked the site, nothing seems to work. I presume i have the latest patch, i'm on gold membership, so i thought the patches where automatic, i maybe wrong!