Internet radio giant
Pandora has been a music-lovers dream for several years, providing a stream of content based on likes and dislikes, built on the Music Genome Project. It's 100% free. But now the company, founded by former acoustic rocker
Tim Westergren, will most likely be forced to shut down due to increasing royalty fees affecting web streaming services.
Numbers are numbers, but the bottom line is the Copyright Royalty Board has increased rates to the point of Pandora losing about 70% of it's revenue to fees (according to the
Washington Post). Already losing money, Pandora has some tough times ahead, especially if Washington doesn't do anything to solve the problem. The beginning of the year already saw the end of Pandora in Great Britain; perhaps that was the first sign of its untimely demise here in America.
Or, perhaps this is an opportunity for Pandora's millions of users to rally for legislation? We're thinking more people understand "free" than "equal royalty rates for all forms of radio." A petition perhaps? It was the chosen strategy for
McCarren...and those kids who want Bono to
retire. Then again, Bono is still around...-
joe puglisi
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Visit Pandora before it's too late