Reply #142: We have voluntary premium services already.

[Kelly Rupert]

People don't like them, and it isn't because of DRM. Your plan isn't compensating artists for file-sharing; it's simply the addition of yet another paid service that will be used by some and ignored by most.

The excuse that people just want to go "legit"--and will for a small recurring fee--is by now several years out of date. PlaysForSure is dying. iTunes Music Store, while quite successful, is a runt compared to the P2Ps or Torrent. People aren't using BT/P2P because they hate the RIAA. They aren't doing it for convenience. They're doing it because it's free.

It's interesting you bring up Napster. They ended up doing the exact same thing you are proposing, albeit with DRM restrictions for rather obvious reasons. As soon as it cost something, people hopped over to KaZaA. As soon as that stopped being useful, due to RIAA suits, they moved to Limewire. When BT became easier and faster, they moved over there. People have no loyalty to their clients. They will go wherever the fast, free goodies are. You cannot possibly think that the addition of another voluntary service to the marketplace will do a single thing about file-sharing.

(RE: Russia; so move it elsewhere. Move it to Nigeria. Move it to Uzbekistan. Move it to Sweden.)