• Grandaddy to retire after the release of next album. (Pitchfork)

• Merge Records' offer of free MP3 to buyers of its vinyl is part of this article on how vinyl records are still thriving in the iPod era. (The Emory Wheel)

• The deal between Jay-Z and Nas, and the agreement between Sony Music and Def Jam that made is possible, is "brilliant from a business perspective," but the lawyers and their "hefty billable hours" were winners as well. (LawBlawg)

• Napster has cut 10 management jobs but dismissed Digital Music News' claim that a bigger round of layoffs is pending. (MP3.com)

• A Bears Sterns analyst reads blogs and so thinks Google is working on a music store? Looks to be true. (WebProNews)

• Video games help music sales? That's the argument made by AP business writer Lawrence Frost. One example given is Fall Out Boy, who sold 70,000 albums in one week because, insists video game music scout Tim Riley, of the band's inclusion in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. Given the meager sales of many game-related soundtracks, Coolfer is skeptical. (Ars Technica)