Protection Rackets

Music Tax Details: “Pay Us Not To Sue You”

You be our bitches

We learned yesterday that Warner Music, the third largest music label, is gunning for a $5/month music tax on U.S. residents. “ The tax will not, in fact, be mandatory. But that is misleading - it won’t be mandatory for ISPs who provide Internet access to actual users. But if ISPs join the scheme, it will apply to all of their customers and be added to their bill as a surcharge. Why will ISP’s agree to this? Mainly to avoid liability. The core of the plan is a covenant not to sue anyone who pays the fee. Griffin touched on this in the article, saying ISPs will want to “discharge their risk” around file sharing that occurs over their networks. The rollout plan will hit colleges and universities first, who will simply add the fee to tuition bills ...  ”