False dawn for traditional single.

Retail outlets will not gain any of the benefits of the growth of the single track download

In a piece of synchronicity this week, Universal's David Joseph and Radio One's George Ergatoudis find themselves on the same page. Not precisely the same place, but on the same sheet of paper, at least.

It is a sheet of paper featuring the slogan "singles rethink", writ large.

Over the past couple of years, the growth of the digital download has reinvigorated the singles market. After four years of decline, singles sales began to climb again. Halleluliah! The single was saved. Except it was, and it wasn't.

As long as consumers wish to buy and own music, the single will be the most popular means of buying music in the future. That is, of course, so long as you think of the single as the single track.

That is how consumers think in today's iTunes dominated environment. As this week's Arctic Monkeys-dominated singles chart highlights, consumers are no longer compelled to buy an entire album, instead they can buy it track-by-track. Or single-by-single.

Which is all well and good, but that doesn't bode well for the traditional single, as we know and love it.