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They already have something like this in place in Denmark. Whenever you buy blank CD's, DVD's or other storage media you pay a fee to copydan. This money then goes to the artists. Of course this doesn't make it legal to use the media you bought to actually store music you haven't bought.

It's insane - you pay and get nothing in return...

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In the US there is a royalty fee paid for each blank cd that is labeled for "music" use. Also manufacturers for certain recording devices pay royalties whose cost is passed on to the consumer. Every time you buy a VCR/Audio Tape Player/DVR(?) you're probably implicitly paying the RIAA some money.

If you really think about it from their position, it sorta makes sense. If they're already receiving payments for some devices that facilitate recording, then in their minds they should get payments for copying over a network as well. Interestingly enough, I believe "computer peripherals" are excempt from this tax/levy/royalty.

interesting, I didn't know other countries had something similar.

The fallacy, of course, is that you don't get to legally copy any music even though you pay. Basically it's just a subsidy to the music business.

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