Alex H, from Sydnie, Australia, suggests a great idea based on data from the book Freakonomics.

In the book, there is a story of a man who puts boxes of bagels in offices and asks for a donation price. The Bagel Man found that on average, 87% of the people where honest.

Alex H says instead of filing lawsuits against a few people who use peer-to-peer networks (such as Kazaa or iMesh), those music downloading programs should include a paypal link. And then they should make public how much you were willing to pay.

I think that’s a great idea. I would be willing to pay iTunes’s asking price of $0.99 for a song from a band that I really liked, but I won’t pay that for a song that I just kind of like. So, less popular bands would not get any of my business, because I don’t want to pay that much. If they had a donation thing going, sure I’d be willing to pay $0.50 for a song, or how about 3 for $0.99. Something is better than nothing, right?

If I was in a not-so-well-known band, I’d like that idea too. They would get more exposure if people are more willing to download their music, and therefore they would be making more money. Sure they wouldn’t be hauling in as much as say, U2, but also look at the difference between the price of U2’s concert tickets and and The Plain White Tees’s concert tickets. The difference is between $20 and $35 (guessing $10 for TPWT and $30-45 for U2).

Maybe you see what I’m saying, and if you read the article, it will make a whole lot more sense.