William Mann, music critic, The Times, May 29 NO, this quote wasn't taken from The Times of 29 May this year. In fact, it is from a first review of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, printed in full by The Times in London to commemorate the album's release in 1967. Forty years ago. Plus ca change, you might say.

Now, not only may it be slightly comforting that even back then critics believed pop music to be in a depressing state during what is now generally considered the high water mark of popular culture, but it is also interesting to note that the entire review of the album is about the same length, even a bit longer, as the article you are now reading.

Music used to be valued so much more.

The Beatles' opus, generally considered to be the template for all albums since, may in fact remain so for all eternity.

Last week, one of Ireland's biggest selling artists decided to give up on the album format altogether. Ash, who are getting ready to release their sixth album, said they had decided to release singles only via the internet from now on. Perhaps it was a knee-jerk reaction to a growing frustration among many artists that it takes so long from the point at which an album is recorded and ready to it actually being released. When I spoke to Tim Wheeler the week before he was livid that the band had completely finished the album, Twilight of the Innocents, in January and it still won't be released until early next month.

But it's not just Ash. In a recent interview Hot Chip expressed similar sentiments, saying the biggest drag of being with a major label is inertia and bureaucracy. I have lost count of the amount of artists who literally tear their hair out trying to pierce the upper echelons of the executive boards at their record companies trying to get things done. When a buzz surrounds an artist it is imperative to build on that immediately and this clearly isn't happening.

It is no surprise that so many artists are getting the hump. This year has been one of the most turbulent for the industry. CD sales have continued to fall, albeit at a steadying pace (see panel).

Legal sales of digital music, while rising strongly, are not offsetting the drop in traditional forms.

Record shops are literally disappearing before our eyes.

HMV keeps issuing profit warnings.

The Beatles' own label, EMI, the last bastion of the British record business and home to Brits Robbie Williams and Coldplay, was this month sold off to a private equity company for around �3bn. It has wanted to merge with Warner Music for the past five years but keeps hearing the wrong noises from the competition authorities. You sense it is only a matter of time before it is either merged or broken up further into digestible pieces.

All the while the market for illegal downloads expands. Apple is making a killing. iPod sales hit record levels last year but the kids ain't paying for their music. It's payback time.

Last week Irma, the organisation that represents Irish recording artists, announced it would prosecute 23 people "engaged in wholesale theft of our music". In an operation spanning months, these alleged thieves have been responsible for distributing around 180,000 music files in person to person file sharing. The story made it onto RTE's Six One news.

"They are stealing from our artists and affecting the livelihood of many people in the music industry, " said Irma head Dick Doyle. "We will not tolerate this and will do everything in our power to ensure they are brought to justice."

It's not hard to sympathise with Irma and its members' plight.

Their methods may seem a little harsh and are questionable in PR terms. In the US, for example, where this rounding up of 'criminals' is commonplace, many feel the criminalisation of music fans is a step too far.

Artists and labels are being roundly hammered by piracy. But they always have been. The humble blank cassette was responsible for the beginnings of most people's record collections, mine included. Times have changed . . . from last month it is now almost impossible to even buy blank cassettes. Bye bye mixtapes, hello playlists. What's different now is the ease with which we can 'steal music'. You used to at least have to know somebody who had the latest Joy Division album before you could copy it. Now you just need to type in a URL. Remember, in the '60s the major labels were terrified of radio and didn't actually want to allow stations to play their music;

they thought airplay would hurt sales. Now radio is the main way companies sell their music.

Perhaps the internet can in time achieve the same role.

Most people don't want to break the law, whether they believe they will get caught or not. They just need to feel they are paying the right price and obviously, if the figures are any guide, 1 per song is not the fair price. Why? People aren't stupid. They know that artwork, printing, packaging, posting etc etc comes at a cost.

Furthermore it is a cost that digital music simply doesn't have.

I'd pay maybe 5 per digital album or would prefer them to be sold on a scale . . . maybe 6 for new ones, 4 for old ones etc. . . That might get people into the habit of paying for music rather than just logging on to Pirate Bay. There are other ideas currently doing the rounds such as renting a full iPod at a set price for a period of time. It's hard to see that working as people just don't like renting music. They want to own it.

To address the loss of revenues, bands and labels are increasingly turning to other, less piratable, forms of revenue generation.

Touring and merchandising are more solid forms of revenue.

Worryingly (for artists ) some are being asked to share a portion of their live revenues with their label or management. Another bright idea coming from labels is to tie concert tickets to CD sales or legal download sales. Buy the music, get to see the show. At least you might get a ticket. Buy it illegally, stay at home.

One way which seems to be proving more successful is the phone as music player. Despite resistance to using phones for music, data both in Ireland and Britain points to a marked increase in popularity. Last week saw the launch of MusicStation, standard mobile phones that provide "unlimited access" to music on your phone for "a small weekly fee". It will be interesting to see how that works out.

And it's not just songs but music videos that are driving sales figures. 3 Ireland, the broadband mobile provider, says its video downloads are now more popular than straight music sales and want Irma to include them in the charts. O2 says it is close to offering a fully functional download store on its phones after securing the backing of the major labels as well as thousands of independent labels. Meanwhile, the social networking site Bebo is about to roll out a deal with iTunes that will enable users to click on the profile of an artist and link directly to its iTunes catalogue. Last week, Steve Chen, the co-founder of video-clip site YouTube, said customers will be able to access the video site on their phones as early as next year.

While it seems the industry has been slow to move with technology it is gradually coming around to the fact that digital music is here to stay.

A recent deal to allow sharing of legally bought music, also known as DRM, is encouraging, as is EMI's freeing up of its back catalogue for sale on iTunes.

Which includes The Beatles' Sgt Pepper, described by Mann in 1967 as "a sort of pop music masterclass examining trends and correcting or tidying up inconsistencies and undisciplined work, here and there suggesting a line worth following".

Prophetic words indeed.