Brendan and Nikolaos - Single sales have certainly been increasing, with record single sales occuring in the UK this year. These single sales are typically taken into account for total album sales figures, with 10 singles representing 1 ablum, and still don't alone account for the overall decrease in album sales. Due to space limitations, however, I intentionally didn't address ways in which artists could continue to derive income from the sale of music. I completely agree with you though that direct online distribution, with record labels as intermediaries, can benefit artists.

-- BradleyMullins - 06 Dec 2009