It's been buzzing since SXSW this year. Nick at Penny Distribution has been in my ear with the idea for months. Major music execs are pushing ISPs to kill every person downloading music on P2P networks. Well not the execs themselves because they are not "technologists". Instead they hired a true visonary in the digital music world, Jim Griffin to do the dirty work. Everyone has their price.
Jim has been evangelizing a flat fee rate for music, $5-10. Add it to your cable/internet/phone/wireless bill in the form of a blanket license. Unlimited music downloads via P2P or similar. It's historically inevitable. Whenever technology has made it too difficult to police a class of copyright use, the problem is solved through blanket licenses. Sheet music and publishers, record labels and radio. A great idea in this case: gives consumers the choice and the industry a means to profit. Artists get paid through a collection society. The most downloaded artists get paid the most.
However, the industry has once again messed up a good thing. Instead of acknowledging that it is happening and creating a means of collection, the industry wants to chase down the smallest of the small "criminals" and wreak havoc on the world. The new plan allows for ISPs to monitor your traffic, site visits, lifestyle choices and everything else they do now. When bandwidth is deemed too high, they can assume it is due to illegal downloading and consequently limit your internet connection. Ridiculous. Just tickles my conspiracy bone...
13 years ago
