RIAA Now Open to “You Must Be a Criminal” Tax on ISP Fees
This certainly isn’t the first time it’s been proposed, but it appears that the RIAA is potentially warming up to the idea of a “music surcharge” that would have ISPs pay $5 a month in order to allow anyone to share music online. Just a month ago, we were discussing why this is a bad idea. First, it’s effectively treating everyone as a criminal and forcing those who don’t download or share music to subsidize everyone who does. Second, and much more importantly, it’s not necessary. If there’s anything that the past five years (and the past year especially) have taught us, it’s that there are many different ways for musicians to make money without requiring the government to step in and set up a business model for them. In other words, there’s no compelling need for such a mandated system. Third, once you do this, it opens up additional questions from other industries. Will the government need to set up laws that prop up their business models as well?
