Music Meets the Digital Age

In the digital age, how can the music industry and content providers develop a reasonable copyright approach to satisfy the needs of the public? It may be easier to craft a digitally friendly approach to protecting content for creators while taking advantage of the web's massive distribution network.

Some have considered the idea of an internet tax payable by every web connection that would cover all copyrighted material online. Content owners would register with a centralized copyright database and users could then download anything they like.

Many questions exist around the feasibility of such an approach. First off, where would such a system of online content become the standard? Should such a system be held nationally or at the global level? Though the vast majority of music content is downloaded illeaglly in most nations, is it fair to really impose a flat tax when not all internet users download music or video content? An article referencing this topic can be found at: http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-isle-of-man-charging-1-per-month-for-unlimited-music.

If a flat tax isn't the solution, perhaps content owners provide a flat internet license to a designated web copyright service for the entire WWW. Web based content providers will then need to pay a flat (or tiered) fee to access such content, which they can potentially collect back from customers at a truly minimal price.

Clearly the issue is more complex than this blog can solve, but it is good to know there are some creative options being considered.

Neil Kairen