Replace DRM With a Music Tax?!
If you’ve been on the Internet for more than five minutes of your life, you’ve heard about downloading music, and may have done so (legally or illegally). You’ve heard all about the RIAA suing people for having illegal downloaded files on their computers, and all kinds of crazy lawsuits over copyright being flung back and forth over the Internet. You’ve also heard about the music industry’s answer to music piracy, DRM, or Digital Rights Management. If you’ve ever bought music from the iTunes music store, you’ve encountered a music file with these DRM copyright protections in place.
In the geek/tech world, there’s been a huge opposition to DRM. There are even a few people who regularly protest DRM by dressing up in HAZMAT suits and marching around cities carrying signs. They have a point, too. If someone goes to the trouble of buying music online, who is a record label to tell them that, even though they legally purchased the music file, they can’t share it between more than a set number of computers, and they can only play it on one of their mp3 players? It’s a fact that DRM is bad business strategy. Punishing those who go to the trouble of buying legal music is moronic, especially when you can get a better illegal copy of the same song in most cases.
I entirely agree with what Michael Arrington at Techcrunch wrote in this article, stating his opinion on this published interview at The Register with Peter Jenner, the first manager of Pink Floyd, manager of The Clash, and tons of other bands. Jenner has been in “the biz” for a while, and is pretty widely respected.
According to Arrington:
He [Jenner] hits on all the points that outrage music consumers - DRM, pay-per-download, and per-device restrictions that force users to pay multiple times for a single song. He says the labels have “raped their whole business model” in the pursuit of short term profits.
But then Jenner goes off the deep end.
Jenner wants the government to step in and save big labels. He’s calling for a mandatory monthly tax in the European Union on broadband Internet and mobile phones of around €4/month that allows consumers to download and consume all the music they want without DRM. Payments will be made to rights holders according to popularity of music - if a song is very popular, it will get a higher percentage of total fees collected.
Arrington points out a few paragraphs later that it’s very surprising that no Europeans are speaking out about this. I’m surprised too. Maybe Europeans are just happy to be taxed? They don’t care about invasion of their privacy, as long as their music won’t have DRM?
If this thing were to happen in the States, I think I’d be one of those people in HAZMAT suits protesting it. I would never pay a tax just for owning a radio or having a broadband connection. I don’t listen to American music in the first place. As far as I’m concerned, it’s all crap.
Imagining what this would be like is pretty scary. Personally, it would go like:
Government Music Tax Collector: Miss, I’m here to collect your monthly tax for having a broadband connection and owning a radio.
Me: Go away. I don’t listen to that crap anyway.
Government Music Tax Collector: Your ISP’s customer report shows that you’ve clearly been downloading and even uploading .zip and .rar files containing .mp3s and other music files.
Me: But those aren’t American artists, and they’re for sampling. I decide whether to buy cds that way, since there is no Japanese Top 40 radio station in my vicinity, it seems only fair that I get to hear a song before I choose to buy it.
Government Music Tax Collector: …Miss, just give me the twenty dollars.
And I would promply slam the door in their face, they would sue me, I would pay fines, and probably serve time.
What do you think of the idea of replacing DRM with a broadband tax enabling you to download all the music you wanted?
Would you like it? Or would you refuse to pay?
Do you even buy music online? Do you download music online? Or do you stick with good old fashioned CDs?
Activism, Rants 
20 November 2006, 02:52
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I think it’s completely ridiculous. I mean, what’s next, are they going to tax us for the air we breathe too?
Half the music that’s out there sucks, the 1/2 of what’s left is still not worth buying a full cd.
I’m saving my sanity by downloading. If they want a bunch of insane, out of control, “against the establishment” people after them. They would stop what they are doing and turn around.
Oh no, no, that will never happen. Well at least if it’s up to me it won’t. It’s just ridiculous! I have the same “problem” as you, I don’t listen to Finnish music, so why on Earth would I have to pay for it? I too download just samples and then buy the actual CD. I only download illegal copies of those albums that are copy controlled, since it’s illegal in Finland to transfer them onto your own computer and mp3 -player (which is just wrong).
This is just insane.
@Corinne
They’re not actually going to. This is just an idea put out there by Peter Jenner, a well-respected “biz” guy. It’s not a bill or a law, or anything more than an idea found in an interview.
Exactly my point. In my related opinion article.
@Kaisa
Same thing, Kaisa. It’s just an idea, not an actual law or bill anywhere.
It’s illegal to rip your own CDs in Finland? That’s absolutely nuts. If you bought the CD, why should you be prevented from putting the tracks on your hard drive so you don’t have to load the CD every time you listen to music on your computer?
Wow. That’s pretty crazy. You did a great job of presenting the arguments.
I download a fair amount of music. Either I download it in a less than honest manner or I buy the CDs at the store. I get zip files on MSN and through e-mail all the time containing MP3s.
I wouldn’t think it’s fair to have the tax. I don’t listen to the Black Eyed Peas, but they’re one of the top artists here in Canada. Conversely, I had to download “We Are The Pipettes” because I can’t buy it here and it’s not on the Canadian iTunes. If I had to pay that tax, BEP would be getting money whereas The Pipettes wouldn’t because they’re not popular enough in Canada.
Although removing DRM would be really swell, I can see why they want to control it. I just get around it by burning it onto another CD, then using that CD to share, rip again, etc.
Here’s an idea: instead of making us pay more for our internet services, why don’t the internet providers pay out of their pockets, €4/user? hah.
-Andrea (despair.nu)
@Andrea
It seems you lost contact a bit with the fact that this is merely one idea, presented by Peter Jenner in one interview.
Yeah, it seems that a lot of people don’t actually like the Top 40 artists in their own country, haha. Or Top 40 artists at all, for that matter.
Haha, I like your idea, make the ISPs pay. They have enough money, why not make a public donation with it? Fatcats…
I am surprised that no Europeans have spoken out about Jenner’s suggestions, I’m fairly certain American’s wouldn’t be so laid back about his thoughts.
In regards to what I think of his idea, a famous line comes to mind. “No taxation without representation”. Since the majority of music I download is foreign, (mostly J-rock/pop, German, K-rock, and Bali) I would be utterly offended that I had to pay the US government a tax on products/services that they are in no way entitled to receive benefits from.
I’m sure Jenner thinks his brain-child is quite cutting edge, but really it’s a flawed theory. How, for example, would the government be able to determine what files are music files of copyrighted material and what are just sound bites and recordings that you’re making for your own personal use. A small business owner makes an audio file that explains step by step how to utilize a feature of their site, would it be right to tax the business owner for that? What of un-labeled bands that sell and distribute their music online? There is also one other fact that Jenner seems to have failed to consider, monitoring the internet usage of an entire country’s populace. Would he like his activities that closely monitored? I think not!
It is instances like this that make me glad Jenner, and those like him, aren’t in charge of the crucial decisions. Rattling off at the mouth without a thought to the serious reprecusions that it may cause. tsk tsk.
That’s an interesting thing to blog about! And an interesting idea of his.. I guess it depends. I really wouldn’t like to be taxed for downloading music and it’s especially unfair if you’re just sampling or something like that. I do download music and I know it sucks for the artists but I honestly wouldn’t want to pay like $20 bucks for a cd I’ll probably get sick of in a week or just like one song of. And ITunes and programs like that are insane! Isn’t it like a dollar a song? And the fact people have to REBUY the song is even more insane!
Heavens. A tax on broadband internet access would most likely cause most people to simply give up their broadband internet. After all, how can they honestly say that any large file I upload or download is a music file?? How incredibly stupid.
@Joana
I think you hit the nail on the head. I didn’t want to say it, because I think it rude to talk about people behind their back, but Jenner is full of bull****. He let his mouth open and run to deflate his head, and people on the Internet called his bluff.
Actually, the RIAJ and Korean Recording Artists work with the RIAA, and now the RIAA can sue you for having Asian music. Isn’t that completely stupid?
The idea would make a big stink in the States mainly because no one wants the government watching their Internet any more than they already are. (Which is scary to think about…)
@Ankita
The RIAA doesn’t differentiate between sampling and stealing, unfortunately…
I’m the same way as you. I don’t buy cds often, becuase honestly, there is maybe one or two songs I like on it (if I’m lucky), and the rest is just crap. One dollar per song wouldn’t be bad, if it were free of DRM and didn’t have to rebuy the song.
@Charity
Heh, more like it would start another big stink like with Net Neutrality, and there would be an Internet-community driven protest and fight against it.
I guess Jenner’s idea was that they’d watch your connection to see everything you do. Too invasive for me.
Indeed, it is incredibly stupid. I’m glad that the whole thing is just Jenner talking out of his butt.
That is absolutely ridiculous! Most albums only have one or two good songs in them so it’s not worth buying! Music tax is insane -.- Anyway, take care!
Oh wow, that’s f***ing stupid. It’s all really stupid, the DRM and the tax proposal. The music industry just needs to find a new way to make money, which means embracing the http://www. I actually have full mp3 albums up for download on my website, I don’t give a shit about those huge labels, they’ve been ripping us off for decades, and the artists are still touring in crappy vans and charging 8 bucks per ticket at shows. They’re basically just making it. Whenever I go to shows, they say, if you want to help us out, buy our merch and come to our shows, and I do. I also buy their records, but after I download them to make sure I like it unless it’s one of my fave bands or something.
I don’t agree about American music being shitty. We have some really awesome purely-American genres liek jazz, blues, rock and other great sub genres like hardcore, indie, etc. Some of the best bands in the world are from America. We’ve always been the country to embrace the weird arts. We had the first “modern art” museum in the world and we were the first to actually be active in the modern art scene, we are the ones who made Picasso rich. I love our DIY scenes and tight-knit musical communities.
If you’re talking about MTV, I can understand though. I have been to Europe and heard their music and it sucks even worse. They listen to a lot of dance hits and crappy pop, haha. I saw this German rap-group too which was HILARIOUS.
xoxo
@Jackie
Yeah, I don’t buy American albums. In fact, I only buy albums from Hamasaki Ayumi, my favorite Asian singer. At least I know I’ll be listening to that album long enough to get my money’s worth.
@Ashley
Yeah, it is stupid. Beyond mentally deficient.
And they do need to embrace the web. Instead of treating everyone listening to music on the Internet like criminals.
And yeah, the artists don’t get ANY money from albums. All their dough comes from shows and buying their t-shirts and stuff.
Well, I didn’t mean all American music. I meant the stuff on MTV, the Top 40 stuff (BLECH! American Pop music is awful!). I’m really, really picky with local music. I think I can name three top 40 artists I’ll listen to, and maybe ten indie or other bands. Maybe.
(By the way, you seemed to have an impression that I wasn’t American. Well, I am, and I remember you commenting on my old blog on my old domain telling me you thought everyone from my area of the US were hicks…)