$5 Per Month Fee Proposed For Legal Music P2P

sneakyimp writes "Both Wired and Ars Technica have reports on Jim Griffin's proposal that ISPs charge each broadband customer $5 per month to subsidize the ailing music industry. The resulting fund would ostensibly 'compensate songwriters, performers, publishers and music labels.' Although no specific version of the proposal has been referenced, a number of controversies are inherent to the plan: How is the money really divided? What happens when the MPAA, the Business Software Alliance, and various other industry groups want their own surcharge added? What about the supposed majority of broadband customers who never download illegal music? Griffin discussed the plan further at SXSW . We've previously discussed a similar proposal from the Songwriters Association of Canada.

Again?

[maz2331]

Didn't they do this with blank CDs a few years ago? Then the indemnification ended, but the tax that's passed back to the RIAA remained.

Maybe if the $5/mo was a voluntary "add on" fee granting immunity from copyright suits it might work.

Oh, almost forgot to include the obligatory Fuck The RIAA line.

Re:I wonder what....

[Dice]

We would need much larger tubes.

yes!

[kometes]

This is outstanding. Pay the $5, dissolve the RIAA, wait a month, and drop the fee.

Some other fees they might consider...

[techmuse]

The sports rebroadcasting fee, to compensate sports networks for their broadcasts that you retransmit

The politicians opponents fee, to compensate them for money that you don't give to their campaigns

The tapped powergrid fee, because you might tap into the power grid at some point

The Emperor's club fee, because you might use the services of an illegal prostitution ring and not get caught (and not be the governor of a large state).

What? You don't do any of these things? Then why should you pay for it? Instead, you should pay a fee to ME, for no particular reason, other than I think you should give me your money whether I've given you anything in return or not! :-)

Re:Apple won't like it...

[jcgf]

Illegal downloaders need to stop freeloading off the rest of us and pay for the things they want.

I'm gonna head on over to the pirate bay and download shit right now, just to piss you off.

Re:I wonder what....

[gooman]

With nanomachines on the horizon, it won't be more than 50 years till you will have access to a formulator capable of replicating a car

Make mine a flying car.

Re:Secret worries of rabbits.

[PopeGumby]

Damn rabbits, coming to our country, stealing our jobs, and then losing them at the first sign of headlights!

$3.99 for Botnet ops

[Skapare]

Actually, it will be the botnet operators that will get the cash. They will become music artists and publishers. They will generate some absolute trash and call it music. Then their botnet of millions of r3-0wn3d computers will be downloading this trash en masse. Their crap will skyrocket to the top ten. They rake in millions. On the bright side, they might give up filling our mailboxes with trash.

Re:Stupid.

[maxume]

I don't think Britney's celebrity status has a whole lot to do with how much she gets screwed.