According to the The Songwriters Association of Canada, adding a $5 fee on your Internet bill would solve all legal issues pertaining to music downloading off P2P networks.

Their proposal is an amendment to the Copyright Act, which they call the Right to Equitable Remuneration for Music File Sharing. Simply put, everyone with an Internet connection plunks out an extra five bucks a month. The money is then managed by a consortium of artists, songwriters, music publishers and record labels, which would then redistribute the funds through a monthly license fee to creators and rights holders in Canada.

In return, P2P file sharing would be made legal across Canada and will render the need for DRM obsolete.

While I’m glad to hear some input directly from the voice of a creator’s association (rather than always from the business end), I’m not keen on the universal price hike for all users. It’s this “everyone’s potentially guilty” approach which drove the recording industry to its current tactics and it’s kind of heartbreaking that the songwriters association has the same basic attitude.

Not to mention some people like, well, my mom, will outright refuse to pay such a price considering they don’t even know what P2P is. To which I must agree. However, it would be comforting to know that songwriters would be on the recieving end of the cash. Then again, the cynical part of me leads me to believe that if ever a deal like this was put through, the actual songwriters would end up chewing on the smallest piece of the pie, as usual.

Realistically, a fee like this would undoutebly change my behaviour. If I’m paying a flat mounthly amount to allow me to download as much free music as I want, what’s my motivation to keep buying albums? This proposition has the potential to bury retail for good, so how will it affect the iTunes, Puretracks and Zuniors of the world?

Existing music sites like iTunes and PureTracks would continue to be licenced directly by Creators and rights holders and would continue to develop the attractive “value added” services and security features that keep them distinct from file sharing activities.

Something tells me Steve Jobs won’t enjoy the idea of being a “value added” service to the industry. And Apple will be only one of the opponents of such an amendment.

I’m quite unconvinced about the whole idea. Is this really the best solution to ensure music creators get their fair share?

TheStar.com : Could $5 a month save the music industry?
A PROPOSAL FOR THE MONETIZATION OF THE FILE SHARING OF MUSIC FROM THE SONGWRITERS AND RECORDING ARTISTS OF CANADA