From Wired Magazine:
Fisher advocates an alternative compensation system that would pay artists based on the popularity of their music. Artists would first have to register their work with the copyright office, which would track how many times that work was downloaded. Revenue generated from taxes on things like Internet access and the sale of MP3 players would then be used to pay the artists. Similar plans have been proposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and University of Texas at Austin law professor Neil Netanel, among others.
Does anybody really think a system like this would work? First of all, its self-defeating. Instituting or raising taxes on things like internet connections and MP3 players are only going to discourage people from using them. If they get too expensive people will just find another way to listen to their music.
Plus, how on earth would a government agency be able to track downloads throughout the internet? I would think that it would be very difficult to get an accurate accounting of how many times a certain song was downloaded.
And wouldn't this system be kind of like putting a limit on to just how much money an artist could make? The pool of tax dollars available to the system is finite. What happens if some band comes out with a mega-hit that is so popular it breaks the bank?
I say that we let artists sell their products and collect their profits the old fashion way.