Under a proposal designed to help musicians cash in on the millions of song downloads every year, one group is proposing that all Canadian broadband users pay a $5 monthly fee for unlimited music downloads.

Eddie Schwartz, of the Songwriters Association of Canada, revealed the plan on CTV's Canada AM on Thursday. He says the fee is small, but multiplied many times over it would create a substantial pool of cash to compensate musicians when their songs are downloaded.

He pointed out that the $5 fee amounts to just 16 cents per day.

"You keep the cost very low per household, but it actually creates a pretty sizeable pool of money," Schwartz said. "We believe between $500 million and $900 million per year, which is a reasonable amount of money, given how many songs are being downloaded and how many people need to be compensated."

Under the plan, those who subscribe to dial-up Internet access, and are therefore less likely to be downloading music, could be exempt from the fee, Schwartz said.

A poll on CanadaAM.ctv.ca generated dozens of responses, the majority of which were opposed to the proposal.

• Paul Blayney wrote: "Why should I pay for something I do not use? It is absolutely ludicrous to think that people should be charged like that. (Schwartz) stated they could tell how many downloads are completed -- charge those people who take advantage, not those of us who continue to purchase the CD's we want to listen to.
• Brian wrote: "If my carrier imposed a mandatory $5 per month I would cancel that service and go elsewhere. I like the pay-as-you-go through iTunes. You select what you like and pay for it."
• Jackie wrote: "I've never downloaded a song, let alone know HOW to download a song. It's absolutely ridiculous to think I should be paying for someone else's illegal actions."
• Not all agreed, however. Karen wrote: "I would pay $5 a month for unlimited music downloads, I don't believe in illegal downloads and with two teenagers with iPods with about 100 to 300 songs each I certainly cannot afford $1 per song from iTunes. A flat rate sound good to me."

Schwartz maintained musicians deserve compensation for the 100 million songs that are available for free on the Internet -- translating to 40 billion illegal file shares per year in North America.

"Less than 2 per cent of activity on the Internet is authorized activity. So that 40 billion downloads is 98 per cent of what goes on," he said.

"For all of that activity, creative people are being paid zero, so we're trying to address that 98 per cent."

The Songwriters Association would ask Internet Service Providers to charge the additional $5 fee to broadband users. The money would then go to a collective which would redistribute it musicians based on the number of downloads.

The proposal would require federal approval.