Less than two hours after star tight end AARON HERNANDEZ was arrested in a murder investigation six years ago—not charged, not convicted, just taken into custody—the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS released him. He had just signed a five-year, $40 million contract. In summarily cutting him, the team, in addition to losing one of its best players, was risking both a huge financial loss and legal action. "We realize that law enforcement investigations into this matter are ongoing," the team said. "We support their efforts and respect the process. At this time, we believe this transaction is simply the right thing to do." My friend JEM ASWAD does a great job here in trying to explain why RCA RECORDS continues to avoid doing what nearly every sentient observer now agrees is the right thing to do with R. KELLY. Among the reasons floated by the experts Aswad talked to: "Kelly has never been convicted of a crime and has steadfastly maintained his innocence." And it might be easier and cleaner to wait for his current contract to expire. I'm glad my hometown Patriots didn't choose the easy, clean route with Hernandez (who was later convicted of murder and took his own life in prison). The right call is as clear now as it was then. We don't know for sure why RCA has chosen to continue doing business with Kelly; the label has steadfastly declined to explain itself. It wouldn't talk to Aswad, nor to ROLLING STONE's KORY GROW. The label's refusal to break with Kelly is "shocking" and "seems a little defiant," KENYETTE TISHA BARNES, co-founder of the #MuteRKelly campaign, told Grow. Prosecutors aren't sitting on the sideline. Following last week's broadcast of LIFETIME's SURVIVING R. KELLY, authorities in Chicago and Fulton County, Ga., are showing renewed interest in the singer's life. One hopes that, behind their silence, record executives are, too... Among the choices viewers are allowed to make while watching NETFLIX's interactive storytelling experiment BANDERSNATCH are what cassette protagonist STEFAN BUTLER listens to on his WALKMAN on a bus and what LP he buys at a WHSMITH record store (and plays in subsequent scenes). I'm an old, non-video-game-playing luddite and I hate everything about the "Bandersnatch" concept, but CHERIE HU makes a compelling case for how the choose-your-own soundtrack adventure could be applied elsewhere in the music sync world, especially in video games. It's a smart, insightful read and it all makes sense to me as long as you keep it out of my scripted TV and movies. I don't want to choose which comedy albums MIDGE MAISEL listens to in her bedroom and I don't want to pick the non-diegetic music that plays while she glides around New York. I want those choices to tell me something about her, not something about me. I want her to act like a human, not a puppet. And when I chat about the show with JASON around the REDEF water cooler the next day, I want us both to have seen, and heard, the same thing. I don't care how many options SPOTIFY and Netflix allow; 30 years from now, I don't want to live in a world where 30 million people remember JOHN CUSACK playing 30 million different songs on that boombox... Oh, and speaking of JOHN CUSACK, this happened... With 20/20 hindsight, it's sort of easy to understand how an indie-rock blogger, and not, say, ROLLING STONE, BILLBOARD or MTV would build the 21st century's most influential music editorial brand. But would you have placed that bet in 1995? RYAN SCHREIBER, who founded the online zine that became PITCHFORK 23 years ago in Minneapolis, is stepping away, three years after selling the company to CONDÉ NAST and three months after stepping down as editor-in-chief. He tells BILLBOARD he'll pursue other opportunities in technology and music. So who are you going to bet on to rule the space for the next 20 years?... RIP PHIL THOMAS and JIM CARADINE.