Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of umbrella trade group, U.K. Music, has his sights trained on the American music industry.

U.K. Music's recently-published manifesto "Liberating Creativity" (Billboard.biz, March 29) is a seven-stage blueprint outlining plans for the British music industry to become the world's No. 1 music creator by 2020. Sharkey spoke to Billboard.biz about the document and how U.K. Music intends to carry its proposals through.

How realistic is the aim of making the British music industry the world's No. 1 music creator?

We've put down a marker of 2020. That gives us 10 years. That's a long time but it's quite a lot of work to be done. But we can do it within that time.

Now that you've published the "Liberating Creativity" document, what happens next?

We start beginning conversations with government. For us it's important that, regardless of what happens over the next six weeks, with the [imminent] general election that these people begin to understand [our goals] and I really think they do and I think that they do want to help out.

What impact could that upcoming election and very possible change of government in the United Kingdom have on your plans?

It makes no difference because the extraordinary, remarkable thing about music is that it's going to be there forever. It's with no disrespect to some of my political colleagues when I say that [music] will outlast their political careers. I think the really important thing for us is that we have the talent and the potential in this country to become the world's No. 1 source of global talent and I think we should go out there and do it.

What are some of the practical ways in which you are going implement the "Liberating Creativity" strategy?

It's very simple things. The rehearsal rooms schemes that we've already been working on with government, for example. At a real grass-roots level, we want to make sure that every young person who wants to engage in music, in whatever level, gets the opportunity and gets the support.

Government funding sits at the heart of the "Liberating Creativity" strategy. Do you have a figure in mind?

I do, but I'm not going to tell you about it right now! In comparison to what we've just given the banks, it's minuscule. It's really insignificant. It's a really trifling sum of money.

What has the reaction been from government ministers?

The reaction from government has been really positive. The bit that I've been most excited about is the other creative industries. Film, design, fashion and architecture have all gone, 'bloody hell. What a fantastic idea. Why didn't we think of that?' When you get people saying that, you know you might be on to a bit of a good thing.

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