The British music industry is undergoing a resurgence, and a spring of talent bloomed at the Brit awards this year. In the face of competition from mobile ringtones, games and DVDs, let alone mass piracy and flat compact disc sales, the music industry is breathing a sigh of relief. It is an exhalation that has all the joy of discovering that your pet duck has died through old age and not bird flu.

There is a fear in the music industry that while digital distribution in the guise of broadband, digital radio, third-generation phones and more than 1bn iTunes downloads will not diminish the demand for music, it might erode those big institutions that supply it.