Andy Oram reports that Denmark's version of the RIAA (or CRIA) is considering a proposal to allow for unlimited, legalized music downloads in return for a monthly fee levied by ISPs. Similar proposals have been floated in Canada and the U.S., but rarely embraced by the recording industry itself.
Denmark Music Industry Considers Legalized File Sharing
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Am I reading the article right?
They want to charge people for unlimited downloading from P2P networks… Something people already have for free (though with dubious legality in some jurisdictions)?
So the proposition is that they will legalize something everybody is doing anyway, for a nominal fee of $23/month (16 euros, 100 kroner).
Question: How can they enforce payment of the $23/month if they can’t stop people from downloading illegally? Are they going to use this as a lever to force ISPs to block access to P2P networks (assuming all P2P users are downloading copyrighted music), or try again to get ISPs to filter the content users are downloading?
Try this instead: Recording industry sets up a music service, and/or licenses other services such as iTunes, to provide DRM-free unlimited downloads of all copyrighted music for an access fee of $23/month. No ISP involvement. No peer to peer. Just a fair market revenue scheme and a good value proposition for consumers.
Even if they don’t download
Adding a Kr100 charge to the ISP fees to cover downloading music, even if you don’t download music? Are these industry players the same as the ones here, which are, in essence, trying to shut down the P2P networks? If this is the case, then I am reminded of the recordable media levy here, since it assumes that you will use the media to make copies of copyrighted works.