Build a voluntary payment button into mp3 clients? (Score 1)

When I walk around the city, I often drop a few coins to street musicians (buskers) whose music I enjoy. Would it be possible to embed some sort of artist account ID into mp3's (eg, in the header) that would let users of Napster and similar software make voluntary payments to artists?

Perhaps not many people would do it, but if you make it easy, like dropping virtual coins into a jukebox or a street buskers' instrument case, maybe enough people would do it to allow artists to make a living--or at least produce a CD while remaining free of monopolistic recording companies and big-brother organisations like the RIAA and ASCAP. I'm fully aware that current mp3 payment mechanisms aren't being used much, but maybe if it were as easy as clicking a button, more people would contribute. This would also allow mp3 enthusiasts to take some moral high ground away from the bureaucrats who are "representing the interests" of the artists.

The client would have a SSL connection to a "bank database." Periodically you would add, say $50.00, to the bank using your credit card and standard ecommerce software. Then as you listen to new mp3's you could click a button for songs you would like to license.

If used, this would deflate the self-righteous rhetoric of the industry and union middlemen, who seem to think that consumers are common thieves unless we choose to buy our entertainment through their cartels. It would also remove their legal bases for shutting down independant artist and programmer efforts--unless they are going to try to argue that they are legally entitled to a self-serving monopoly.