Could $5 a month save the music industry?

The Songwriters Association of Canada proposes a $5 monthly fee on subscribers’ Internet bills that would make it legal to download music and hopefully save the failing music industry.

THE PROBLEM

Sales of CDs are down 20 per cent worldwide and 35 per cent in Canada, compared to 2006.

An estimated 1.6 billion music files are downloaded in Canada each year on "grey-market" peer-to-peer systems, representing $1.6 billion in lost revenue, using the iTunes price model of 99 cents per download.