Yesterday it was announced that people in the United Kingdom are maybe going to pay MP3 taxes. To compensate those that lose revenue through illegal downloads there is a plan from the Music Business Group (MBG) to make you pay a tax when transferring music to multiple devices.
Many break the law on a daily basis by simply playing a few hits on their portable MP3 players. But also those that pay for all their music will have to pay when this tax will be introduced. First you will pay the tax when downloading the track and again when you buy a new device to download it to. Andrew Gower reviewed digital copyright laws for the Government and told Computer Active that consumers need to have a fair use exemption.
Of course the MBG didn't agree since this wasn't fair to rights holders. “Last year alone, over 20 million MP3-capable portable devices were sold in the UK, and over 90 per cent of music on the average MP3 player is music that has been copied. UK creators and right holders are legally entitled to benefit from this value,” a MBG spokesman said to Computer Active.
For now nobody knows how much tax we are talking about.
