Sergeant Peter v the pop pirates

Peter Jamieson had a painless introduction to the music business after leaving the world of advertising. His first job was as an EMI rep selling The Beatles' classic Sergeant Pepper album to record stores. Now, almost 37 years on, his latest task is infinitely harder - saving the music business.

Jamieson, who went on to become boss of The Beatles' record company EMI, is chairman of the British Phonographic Industry, which represents the labels behind most of British music.

As he takes his seat at the Brit Awards on Tuesday, he will be planning the industry's fightback against arguably its biggest threat - the drain on profits caused by the illegal free downloading of songs from the internet. pJamieson, 58, is on the brink of unleashing his lawyers on the music lovers who do not like to pay.

'This should be a golden age for music,' he says. 'There is more music in the world than ever, more music on more television channels, more music radio. Music is booming. But it is the profiteers and racketeers who are benefiting from so much of it - and they don't invest in music.'

After EMI, Jamieson joined rival BMG to run its Asia business before launching MTV Asia in 1995.

Suing potential consumers seems a strange way to persuade people to buy more records, but he has come a long way from the hippie era of peace and love. Jamieson reckons it is time for a dose of harsh reality.

And the figures show why. Though overall music sales were up slightly last year, sales of singles fell by nearly a third.

It is thought that about five million people download music. Since there were few legal sites in the UK until recently, many of them must be doing it illegally. Jamieson believes that the loss in revenue from piracy, including the counterfeiting of CDs, is of such a magnitude that there could be seven major music companies today instead of five.

Not only that, but there would also be a raft of medium-sized and small music businesses, too. Jamieson says: 'Record companies used to come in all sizes, from EMI to Island to Virgin. It was a healthy industry that produced a huge diversity of artists, some with a rough-and-ready sound, but it was vibrant - and profitable.'

The scale of the problem is staggering- there are thought to be about 900 million music files on the internet that can be downloaded illegally, while fakes account for almost half of all CD sales in some European countries.

So Jamieson, a tall grey-haired figure with piercing blue eyes and a polite, if guarded, manner, is looking at following his US counterparts and suing the pirates.

In America, 914 people are being sued by the US record industry for billions of dollars for allegedly breaking copyright laws. These alleged perpetrators used software to make songs available to other users.

The letters that American songswappers received are menacing: 'We encourage you to consult with an attorney immediately to advise you on your rights and responsibilities, since we are obviously not your lawyers.'

Has it worked? Last year, sales of recorded music in America held steady for the first time in years after falling by 22% over the previous three years. Surveys show that illegal downloading has halved, but researchers who ask people if they are still breaking the law must treat the replies with scepticism.

Jamieson is not a macho hardliner - he is a family man with three children living in Surrey with wife Jane, a classical musician.

'We don't want to put people in jail,' he says. 'But we do want them to stop illegal downloading. More legal sites will open as illegal ones shut. After all, why would you open a sweetshop if someone was giving away sweets free?' This year the big, legal music download sites - Apple's iTunes and Napster - are due to open to UK consumers while last month, Coca-Cola launched MyCokeMusic.com. In the week when it was launched, 50,000 digital sales were recorded. New figures show that more than 150,000 songs were sold legally online last month.

Before the launch of iTunes in America last April, record companies simply refused to license songs on an individual basis to legal music sites, even while they were failing to stem the flow of unlicensed songs to illegal sites. British record companies have been even slower than their American counterparts in reacting, though Jamieson says that this is partly to do with changes to the law on copyright last autumn, which made it difficult for them to act sooner.

Jamieson admits, however, that one of the music industry's biggest problems is the public's perception that it is being ripped off when it buys music from legitimate outlets.

'On average, CDs are available for £10, while 20 years ago they were £13.99,' he says.

'Everyone knows CDs cost less than £1 to make, however the cost of making and marketing music is astronomical, and legitimate purchasers are having to shoulder that burden alone.'

By way of comparison, Jamieson points out: 'Twenty years ago it cost £2.50 to see Newcastle United, but now it's £25.'

Maybe. But some observers would say that the most effective way of countering public misconceptions is to cut the price of CDs.

That is what happened in the US last year and it stimulated growth in the market.

Either way, if Jamieson succeeds in his fight against the internet pirates, this veteran of the psychedelic age of free love and flower power might yet prove to be the most influential man in today's unsentimental music world.