Here in Canada we have a levy on blank optical discs, the proceeds going through our version of the RIAA to be distributed to the musicians. In return, private copying of music is legal. (Copying via BitTorrent is not. As you download you’re also sending it to other people you don’t know. That’s publishing.)
Several years after it was put in place they started lobbying for the levy to be extended to iPods, MP3 players and anything else (like cell phones) with digital storage.
Naturally, people asked how much of the levy on optical discs had been distributed to musicians. The answer: None at all.
They quickly distributed a token amount, but failed to get the levy expanded.
