by SHANE SINNOTT

Astute readers may remember my mention of a proposal by the Songwriters Association of Canada suggesting a $5 levy be added to everyone’s Internet bill in exchange for unlimited downloading of any kind of music. By the time you read this, they will have officially unveiled the proposal, and so I feel that now would be a good time to revisit its idiocy (you can read about the finer details here: tinyurl.com/29ejgf).

The plan: every Internet subscriber gives them $5 per month, and they look the other way on any kind of music downloading. The problem: their plan. I hate to agree with Canadian Recording Industry Association President Graham Henderson, but he’s right in labelling the proposal “a pipe dream.” Not only would paying $5 a month, to essentially deflect lawsuits, destroy the online music industry (the iTunes music store etc), it would presumably elicit howls of protest (or at least ‘me too!’) from other media industries (movies, TV) that are also affected by piracy.

Finally, the levy would add up to between $500- and $900-million per year, which seems way more than the amount the industry is losing to music downloading, which according to a Canwest News Service study was $118-million last year. The proposal is a complete non-starter; the industry, as always, is looking for ways to make guaranteed cash regardless of quality. Until a system is in place that rewards particular artists as their music is downloaded—the only way the average downloader is going to be convinced to part with their money—I think things are going to remain as is. As it stands, there’s no way I want a penny of my $5 a month going to the guy who writes songs for Feist.

Making waves on the ol’ blogosphere this week is what New York magazine is billing as Sasha “white music is too white” Fere-Jones’s worst nightmare: Arcade Fire covering The Magnetic Fields. Download “All the Umbrellas in London” here: tinyurl.com/2awndb (bonus: Pixies’ “Wave of Mutilation” from the same concert: tinyurl.com/2zud7l). And finally, a remix of Holy Fuck’s “Lovely Allen” by No Age: tinyurl.com/33yoxs.