New Media Law (NML), a UK based law firm, has leapt on the Digital Economy Act's (DEA) recent problems by proposing their own solution to "illegal" internet copyright infringement (piracy) - a £1 per month music tax. This would be applied to almost all of the country's broadband ISP connections, with the revenue being distributed amongst the copyright holders, based on a statistical assessment of what music is being streamed or downloaded via the internet.

In reality it's not a new proposal. European Media Law (EML) came up with something similar in 2009 (here) and the Performing Rights Society for Music (PRS) did exactly the same in 2010 (here). In fact, over the past 3 years, more than a few Rights Holders have suggested it.

However, New Media Law swears blind that its proposal "is not a tax" because people would be able to "opt out" if they "don’t wish to receive streams or downloads of music via their internet connection".

The suggestion appears to be that legitimate music and video streaming services (e.g. YouTube, Spotify) would be blocked unless you pay the charge. This does not appear to be in keeping with the spirit of government Net Neutrality policy, which last year (here) warned ISPs to ensure that consumers still had access to all "legal content [and] service[s]".

The Governments Net Neutrality Principals

Openness – consumers should be able to access any legal content or service. Content providers should be able to innovate and reach users.

Transparency – providers should set out in detail the extent of their traffic management and the impact on customers.

Support for innovation and investment – ISPs should be able to manage their networks to ensure a good service and have flexibility in business models. Competition is important for ensuring continued openness and choice.

However, NML claims to have an answer to this problem by offering an exemption for certain services that are perceived to have already paid for legitimate licences.


It's not clear how NML's "statistical assessment of what music is being streamed or downloaded via the internet" would work. The previous PRS proposal called for the often controversial use of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology to monitor what broadband customers downloaded.

The proposal could be complicated to manage, especially given the global nature of internet content, and might end up requiring costly customer monitoring solutions. Not to mention that ISP content restrictions are also very easy to circumvent. Many consumers might also find it unfair that they should be made to pay extra to cover for the abuses of others.

New Media Law estimates that the new charge would raise at least £50m per month in the UK alone, plus of course a further £10 per month in VAT to help keep the governments eyes and ears closed to opposition. This suggests that around 50 Million people would be charged, which can only mean that mobile operators would also be forced to pay (the UK is home to about 20m fixed line broadband connections).

It's understood that New Media Law will be meeting with Lord Clement-Jones - the Liberal Democrat peer that is currently promoting the “Live Music” bill - at the House of Lords on April 26th, to present its concept of a “music charge” to the UK Government.