To address the simultaneous click problem we need to assign everyone a unique click number when they click to download/listen to a song. Then wee need a page that lists everyone’s click number. Below the link that you click to listen to a song there is a link that has pages of peoples click numbers. Each page may have, say, 1000 click numbers and when you listen to/download a song you are given a specific click number and the page number that the click number will show up on (the last page of course). The click numbers are assigned sequentially. At the bottom of a page with click numbers there is a URL that says next page, previous page, it lists a couple of the next pages (like many forums do and as is done at the bottom of a Google search where you can jump to page 3 or 4 , 6, 10, etc…) and may have other navigation option links (ie: jump to last page, jump to first page, skip 10 pages ahead or behind, etc… just like many forums have at the bottom of their pages. Perhaps even a box people can type in the page number and directly jump to it).

Well, you may think, this doesn’t really solve anything, the site may still assign two people the same number. The solution, allow each person to submit a short comment before downloading/listening to the song, that comment will appear next to the submitters click number. It’s very unlikely two people will submit the same comment at the same time so the system can’t simply assign two people the same click number since it must display both unique comments next to the click numbers (and anyone can then verify, from any computer, that their click number made it through at the correct page, at the correct location, with their unique comment next to it). So the page will look like this

CL = Click number
D = Date/Time
C = Comment

CL – D – C

IE:

01 – 6/12/2009:9:30PM – Hello!
03 – 6/12/2009: 9:31PM HELLO@!

Notice how click 02 does not show up. That’s because, in this example, the person who was assigned that click number was interrupted by a phone call. He comes back and submits his comment and downloads the song (or listens to it). The page updates.

01 – 6/12/2009: 9:30PM 06 sec – Hello!
02 – 6/12/2009: 9:32PM 05 sec – Hello!@
03 – 6/12/2009: 9:31PM 02 sec – HELLO@!
04 – 6/12/2009: 9:32PM 06 sec – Hi!
06 – 6/12/2009: 9:34PM 07 sec – Hi!*

Each user can then go to the page with his click number (and he can do this from any computer) and ensure that his click number showed up with his specific comment. Also, it’s not necessary for every click number to be there sequentially, some maybe absent if someone got a click number but never submitted it to download the song (ie: they closed it out before putting in a comment and downloading the song). In this case, click numbers will be skipped (ie: click number 05 may never show up). With millions of users verifying that their clicks show up it would be very difficult for the RIAA to cheat artists (since it would quickly make it on many blogs, there would be a huge backlash, and people would sue).

In this way, the artists can also verify how many people clicked on their song and ensure the appropriate royalties. If the RIAA and other collection agencies are serious about transparency and making sure artists get paid, this is the system they should adopt. The only reason not to is if they want to scam artists by lying to them about how many people listened to their song.