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.

So, "little guy" in quotes. As-in "little compared to the EMI behemoth."

I am well aware that this ruling only pertained to Pink Floyd's contract, but am still happy that a court interpreted it properly and ruled in their favor. Then again, it was a UK court -- who knows how a similar situation would be adjudicated in the lobbyist-friendly confines of the U.S.

I agree. This was about making a record company honor their original contract, and on that point, I think it's a good win for the band.

On the other side of it, as much as I love David and Roger like the air I breathe, as much as I've listened to their albums over and over and over again, and as much as "Dark Side of the Moon" isn't quite the same when the songs are played individually...

They are still, at their core, individual songs, perfectly suited to standalone listening. That's what David and Roger wrote, was songs. That's their style, they write short form songs and string them together. Any whining on the band's part is just that: whining. They're trying to claim some sort of larger "long-form-work" artistic integrity that just, in my opinion, isn't there.

Yes the songs were tied together with a larger narrative thread. Yes, they produced the albums in such a way that the songs crossfaded with each other. But that's all it ever was, just crossfading songs together. Even a rock opera like The Wall has pieces that stand out and can be played on their own, and even the most tangled narrative sections of the album are still discrete songs.

Contrast this with, for example, "Thick as a Brick" which, for the most part, is truly an album-length single musical work with classical-style sections and movements. They even had to invent a weird bit in the middle, after the fact, to cover the transition between side 1 and side 2 of the vinyl LP format.

So although Pink Floyd are winning the war here (the "war" being, make the record companies do what's right), they're shooting themselves in the foot with this particular battle. Someone who wants just "Comfortably Numb" and can't (or doesn't wish to) purchase all of The Wall is just going to pirate it instead. So in the end, less money for EMI and for David and Roger. Fortunately, they're in a financial position where they can take that kind of hit for the greater good of the music industry as a whole.

I share pretty much the same views Tony. Artistic vision or not, my bottom line is that if a band has managed to secure these types of distribution rights into their contract, for whatever reason, the labels should be compelled to adhere to that contract.

At the end of the day, the choice should be that of the artist's. I don't necessarily listen only to full albums, even when the songs are al mixed together very well. But I only collect full albums. I also know that the global market reality puts me in the minority.

I can't even begin to think of how shite I'd feel about a collection of random scattered songs on one of my players. At least iTunes and newer iPods still allow you to browse by album, even if you only have one or two songs from said album.

For every "Dark Side of the Moon" there's a "Wish You Were Here".

And I see little difference between the two albums in terms of the overall discrete-ness of the songs.