Digitally Lagging Agency Dropped by Nike— (WSJ) Wieden + Kennedy has lost the Nike account it shepherded since 1982. Sad, but “what really unnerved Madison Avenue was that one of the main reasons for Nike’s move was dissatisfaction with the agency’s digital expertise, according to people close to the account.” CIQ: We feel that the brightest digital minds are probably not attracted to working in big agencies because, overall, agencies have not valued what they do.

Is the NBC-News Corp Venture a Serious Threat to YouTube?–(Fortune) Not if you read between the lines, according to this news analysis. The inititative doesn’t have a name or a CEO or a definitive start date. Also, it took the 5 companies involve (including AOL, MSN and Yahoo) 15 months to sort out the terms that would get them to this nameless, captain-less, launch-date-less point. CIQ: We agree. Sounds like big-media-tries-to-immitate-nimble-startup syndrome to us.

The Death of the Album–(NYT) The sales of traditional record albums continue to slide. Labels are signing artists for a couple of songs. Consumers are moving to iPod playlists. CIQ: For years consumers have bought full albums and found only a few good songs. We wonder about artists teaming up to release a “playlist” with the best work from each, a theme, and a discount at iTunes for buying the package.