ISPs would collect the micropayments, which would then be given out to copyright holders by an independant non-profit organisation called Choruss. Only Universal is yet to sign up from the four major labels, and the offer is being shopped around U.S universities including Cornell, Columbia and the University of Chicago.

Here’s the interesting bit in the words of Wired:

In return for a university paying fees to Choruss, its students would be able to continue downloading as they have been — bit torrent, Limewire and so on — without fear of legal reprisal. Unlike previous plans that require the use of onerous digital rights management, this one would allow students to download music in the unprotected formats they prefer, using the hardware, software and networks of their choice.

Could this be the long-awaited innovation in the face of extinction? It’s an interesting proposition, and one which presumably accepts DRM-free files will be shared, traded, uploaded etc. And will probably end up in the hands on non-students, who won’t have ever paid any fees?

If so, I’ll be stunned.

I await the first time it launches, and the discovery within a week of some kind of tracking or limitation. If it does turn out to be true, it does prove that anyone can change if they’re heading for a big enough disaster. Repent, ye industry sinners.

(There’s also the small flaw of those students and families complaining that fees intended to pay for an education are now being diverted to an entertainment industry, and the rush of film and media companies to include their own fees.

Plus complaints by those who don’t intend to download any music and resent paying for others.

Plus the eternal question of why on earth music labels deserve to take any of the money in the first place – because in this model, they don’t actually do anything?

Look again:

1. Universities charge students.

2. ISPs collect payment.

3. Organisation collects electronic data and distributes it to copyright holders (Surely the musicians and artists who created the work).

Exactly where in this 3 step plan do we have a need for record companies? Give the non-profit organisation the ability to enforce copyright if a musician wants to, and that’s the music labels gone.