I need critics. There's an awful lot of music out there. A lot of it is self-indulgent crap. I don;t have much time to spend listening, so if a critic I respect says x is good or y is bad, or a sounds like b and I like b, then I find that helpful.
The internet, having given us myspace, folkcast and the like, is all well and good, but unless you have infinite time, infinite patience and a very uncritical ear indeed, you're going to find it frustrating.
The arrogance of those who say critics are parasites, or that their opinion doesn't count, is breath-taking. Or are those who utter such bilge really so practically perfect in every way that they really are beyond criticism? In which case those musicians who do listen to what critics say and who respond to positive feedback - those rank amateurs and struggling dilettanti like the Carthys, Bellowheads, Faustus's etc of this world - could really do with listening to you chaps. It might just help them improve a bit and raise their game to your standards!