Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge has backed the UK’s government plan to warn unauthorised downloaders. Appearing on a panel at Friday’s Digital Britain Summit, he proved difficult for chair Nick Higham to pin down, speaking initially only philosophically: “This is like a storm - it’s illegal file-sharing affecting every single piece of copyright and intellectual property on a global basis, full stop. What has caused that storm is a form of global warming - we are at the beginning of a creative and commercial global warming.”

Pressed for his views on Digital Britain, he opened up a little: “Government needs to be part of tightening (the law) and working with us so that there is some form of graduated response to continued, serial illicit illegal file-sharing.” But how far should the response go? Only a general reply: “These are the areas where the relationships between business in a form of self-regulation discussion actually need to be answered.” But self-regulation implies no government control, Higham point out - shouldn’t the government oversee file-sharer warnings? “Yes, that’s right,” Grainge said, tentatively - but, while fellow panel participant