The Music Business Group, which represents record and songwriting companies in England, would like to see the makes of computers, iPods and other things that make money to give a slice of that pie to the owners of music copyrights. Not that they’d have to, as everybody copies CDs anyway, but it’d be awful nice of them.

…”We propose that music rightsholders set up a licensing scheme, with government approval, by which manufacturers and importers of ‘enabling devices’ (e.g. MP3 players, iPods, phones) would pay rightsholders to share the value that they realise from consumers format-shifting.”

[MBG spokesman Richard Mollet] said this is not a levy in the European sense as it would not be statutory, begging the question of how the MBG plans to persuade device makers to agree to paying its licence.

“Clearly there would have to be a process of negotiation and development, but I think there are a number of factors pointing in our direction,” he said. Some device manufacturers, notably Nokia, have started to seek licensing deals, while others may be persuaded by the prospect of “other potential business models and opportunities for partnership”.

If I was Apple, I think I’d start demanding a second “iTunes only” track for each album just for having to hear this kind of desperate plea.

UK music biz wants cut of iPod cash [MacUser via TheDailySwarm]