I have long thought email should go in this direction. We only need to ask just a few pennies per message to eliminate spam completely. Also, by setting a highish fee per email, it's a good way for busy people to filter out all but the most serious inquiries.
It's no joke. I've seen a variant of this (or perhaps this) before.
It's paid access of the crudest kind and to be honest it seems to me that it is designed to fleece people who are borderline mentally ill. I know from experience that a lot of people suffering from mania fixate on contacting specific individuals about: business ideas, a book they're writing, a spiritual/religious idea that needs championing...
I think they would be avid users at this price point.
I used this service a few weeks ago to get a response from a VC that I wanted to contact, and it worked great! The cool thing is that you pay only if you get a response.
Glad to see someone is doing it.