The little guy? We have different definitions of that term I guess. It's good news nonetheless though. Nice to see labels having to honor their contracts and do right by the artists they represent - even if they have to be forced to do so by a court order.

Some people are completely misconstruing what this case and news are about though (have I mentioned I hate comments in blogs?). Pink Floyd was attempting to force their label to adhere to their contract, which stipulated an option that their album recordings be sold as a unit to preserve artistic integrity. And they (rightfully) won. The label argued that the contract shouldn't apply to digital music. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Not.

How does this affect other artists? It doesn't unless they also have clauses in their contracts to preserve the original artistic integrity of their album releases. Or other clauses to give them control over how their music is pieced for sale. That's not to say that all artists want full album releases only though.

Personally, I'd never buy only a single track. I mean, I've done it before, but it was for the first MP3 to ever be sold, Duran Duran's Electric Barbarella.