I’m largely in agreement with Derek’s helpful comment. I certainly do not envision my proposed system as merely preserving the existing business models of the record companies. Rather, it seems to me the best hope for facilitating the displacement of those models.

For those readers sufficiently dedicated to wade through a lot of prose on these issues, here’s the link to the current (incomplete and evolving) draft of my book on the music and film industries: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/tfisher/PTKprivate.htm. Chapter 1 outlines the ways in which full exploitation of currently available technologies could, in my view, transform the world of entertainment. Chapter 6 suggests how a tax-and-royalty system could conduce to that end.