I can't help but think we never solve "how to pay musicians" until we first jettison the absurdities, specifically "paying for downloads."

Start with the assumption; mp3s are free to create and copy, and there is no point in pretending that this isn't simply how it is, and should be considered a universally good thing. Even streaming a song a second time is stupid.

Now that we've accepted this, how can we collectively figure out some way for me to send money to my favorite artists so they keep doing their thing?

(And I say this as someone who does fairly regularly pay for digital downloads.)