I wonder if that could have unintended consequences. Would people feel better about pirating if such a thing existed?
It reminds me of the study in Freakonomics about day care centers and the problem of parents sometimes not picking up their kids on time. Which meant that employees would have to stay after closing. So they started charging parents a small fee for being late. The result was that parents were more late than ever, since it meant they no longer felt guilty. The fine removed the guilt associated with being late.
"Would people feel better about pirating if such a thing existed?"
You like an artist, you're honest and not poor. You can buy a cd for x, where some tiny percentage of x goes to the artists. Or you could download the cd and pay x to the artist.
It reminds me of the study in Freakonomics about day care centers and the problem of parents sometimes not picking up their kids on time. Which meant that employees would have to stay after closing. So they started charging parents a small fee for being late. The result was that parents were more late than ever, since it meant they no longer felt guilty. The fine removed the guilt associated with being late.