WMG: ISP fees should be bundled with music tax

Category: Internet Trends

March 31st 08, 11:16

Warner Music Group (WMG) has come up with a new solution to the problem of music downloads, being billed by some commentators as a 'music tax'.

After consulting with expert Jim Griffin, the group has suggested that consumers should pay a monthly fee to their internet service provider for unlimited access to an online database of songs.

The music giant enlisted Mr Griffin, formerly the digital chief for Geffen Music, to develop a model for the distribution of these fees to copyright holders and artists.

Portfolio.com asserts that the move represents the "desperation" of the record industry as CD sales continue to plummet.

Mr Griffin told the publication that the music business had become a "big tip jar", with the choice of paying now "purely voluntary".

"We want to monetise the anarchy of the internet," he added.

Record labels on WMG - which in 2005 became the only stand-alone music group to be publicly traded in the US - include Asylum, Elektra, Roadrunner and Reprise.

This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.

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