According to the group's Intellectual Property Watch List, published yesterday, the UK has a worse copyright regime than countries with major piracy problems such as China, India and South Korea.

However, Sharkey says he and many in the UK music business are "perplexed and bemused" by the findings and questions their logic and methodology.

The UK Music CEO says, "In particular, claims that Chinese and Indian consumers (and media) have greater freedoms to access copyrighted works than UK citizens are ...