The Warner Music Group is reportedly interested in creating a music tax for several major universities that have a large number of students who share music files.
This isn't a real surprise Warner is interested in such a tax, as the company hired Jim Griffin, who is a music industry representative that continues to push for a "blanket license" for all ISPs to adopt for its customers.
In theory, students would be free to download music, but universities will have to monitor all music sharing traffic.
Techdirt thinks the proposed blanket license is a bad idea, though it seems other journalists are unsure what to think about the idea.
"It's basically a music tax -- allowing the record industry to be lazy. Someone else gets to go out and collect all this money, and hand it over to the industry to distribute (or, actually, not distribute). It effectively sets the business model of the recording industry in stone, and harms better, more innovative business models by inserting the recording industry (and not the musicians) into a role where they don't belong," according to Techdirt.
Warner said the company continues to work with universities and "other parties" while trying to create fair resolutions to a "complex issue," but nothing is close to being announced as of yet.
I'm still unsure what to think about some kind of tax imposed all students, but it seems that this is the type of tax that would help allow students to continue downloading music while making sure the RIAA gets paid. Considering all the additional fees university students in the United States already have to pay, a music tax is probably one of the things they would be willing to pay for.
The RIAA has sued thousands of alleged file sharers in the United States, with university students living on-campus a popular target. But the RIAA has received nothing but bad publicity and now faces challenges from Duke University and other universities who plan to fight against RIAA subpoenas.
Even if music groups are working with universities and ISPs, it's highly unlikely a deal will magically be completed any time soon. I recommend you don't hold your breath, and expect to see some more copyright infringement lawsuits before anything serious takes place.
