Let The Music Play: Voluntary Collective Licensing Of Music File Sharing

The current battles surrounding peer-to-peer file sharing are a losing proposition for everyone. The litigation campaign against music fans has not put a penny into the pockets of artists. We need a better way forward. First, artists and copyright holders deserve to be fairly compensated. Second, file sharing is here to stay. Third, the fans do a better job making music available than the labels. The Proposal: Voluntary Collective Licensing. The concept is simple: the music industry forms a collecting society, which then offers file-sharing music fans the opportunity to "get legit" in exchange for a reasonable regular payment, say $5 per month. The money collected gets divided among rights-holders based on the popularity of their music. In exchange, file-sharing music fans will be free to download whatever they like, using whatever software works best for them. The more people share, the more money goes to rights-holders. The more competition in applications, the more rapid the innovation and improvement. The more freedom to fans to publish what they care about, the deeper the catalog.