How Compulsory License For Internet Might Help Music Industry Woes

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry blames the situation on CD burning and unauthorized Internet file sharing. The problem can be traced in large part to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. In negotiations for drafting the law, the record labels agreed to make Internet Service Providers (ISPs) immune from copyright infringement liability for the acts of those subscribing to their services. This was part of the quid pro quo for giving owners of musical recordings the exclusive right to digitally transmit masters on the Internet. Because they could not attack the ISPs for allowing such services as Napster to exist, the record labels began attacking the file-sharing services.

In this author's opinion, the solution to the music industry's woes is a federal law providing for a statutory license that would legalize the sharing of music online while compensating copyright owners for lost sales. A federal law implementing a statutory license could legalize the transmission of all recorded music for purposes of sharing music over the Internet and downloading permanent, portable copies. Fees would be paid by those directly profiting from file sharing, that is, the makers of CD burners, including computer manufacturers, and the ISPs whose subscribers already pay in part for access to such services as Kazaa. As CD sales continued to decline due an ever increasing number of households acquiring computers and high speed Internet connections, the amount payable to the fund could be adjusted upwards.