• Well, music execs, you may have it bad these days but not as bad as music critics. Says writer/critic Chuck Klosterman, "I think the music industry is in trouble, but I would say people who write about rock music are in more trouble than the artis. Ten years ago people read rock magazines to be introduced to new bands. Now, you don’t need a rock critic to tell you what’s good." That's funny, because next to no music critics actually use adjectives like good or bad, or verbs like rules or sucks. (Red and Black)

• Big Boi hasn't delivered a whole lot for Virgin yet, so how will his four new ringtones perform? The ringtones were taken from the modest selling Big Boi Presents...Purple Ribbon-Got Purp? Vol.2, a comp released on Big Boi's Purple Ribbon label that goes through Virgin. (SOHH.com)

• Michael Jackson plans to have a new album out in 2007. Which label will release it? A newly formed entity, so says a statement released today, that's a joing venture between Jackson and a member of the Bahrain royal family. Fifty bucks says the record's horrible. (Reuters)

• An LA Times writer talks to network executives, historians and a comedian to find out why Americans are obsessed with "American Idol." (LA Times)