Spirit of unity will benefit us all.

VIEWPOINT Peter Jamieson

The voluntary agreement between BPI and MCPS-PRS that was reached last Thursday was not "sensational" (not least because the tribunal continues without the BPI), but it was a significant victory and important milestone for our music industry.

We now find ourselves with a secure basis not just for the further development of the digital music market, but for renewed collaboration between many elements of the British music industry.

Nor is it the only element of our programme to stimulate the growth of the digital market to have received a boost recently. We look forward to admitting downloads to the singles chart on an equal footing with physical formats next year, following an agreement in principle that this can happen.

One by one, the internecine disputes which have bedevilled the industry ever since the advent of digital are being resolved. This period of transition has been challenging and frustrating. It has sometimes seemed that we have been at odds with just about every other sector of the music community.

We have been accused of being anti-music-fan (our campaign against illegal filesharing), anti-physical retailer (that issue of downloads into the charts) and anti-publisher (the tribunal), but, as the old adage goes, "progress is only achieved by unreasonable men", and what is first seen as heresy often becomes orthodoxy. The digital market, which is so important a part of our future, continues to grow dynamically and as more changes fall into place can progress to growing exponentially. And, let us leave ...