Linkin Park [ tickets ]'s management company, The Firm, has issued a statement claiming that the band is unhappy with Warner Music Group's planned initial public offering, and is seeking to end its contract with the label.

The statement says that the band will not record a new album for release next year, as it had originally planned.

"Linkin Park has become increasingly concerned that WMG's diminished resources will leave it unable to compete in today's global music marketplace, resulting in a failure to live up to WMG's fiduciary responsibility to market and promote Linkin Park," the statement said.

A statement issued in response by Warner Bros. said: "While Linkin Park's talent is without question, the band's management is using fictitious numbers and making baseless charges and inflammatory threats in what is clearly a negotiating tactic. Warner Bros. Records has made significant investments in Linkin Park, and they have always been compensated generously for their outstanding worldwide success."

Country singer Toby Keith [ tickets ]--who has previously traveled to Kuwait, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Italy, Germany and Iraq to entertain troops--is set to embark on a USO tour that will touch down in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Germany; Belgium; and the Persian Gulf.

Justin Timberlake [ tickets ] will voice the character Artie--a teenage King Arthur--in the forthcoming film "Shrek 3."

Billboard.com reports that the Dixie Chicks [ tickets ] are recording a new album in Los Angeles with producer Rick Rubin [ tickets ]. No release date has been scheduled for the set, which will be the follow-up to 2002's "Home."