Pink Floyd’s Pandora Problem

At issue is the Internet Radio Fairness Act, a piece of proposed legislation that supporters claim will result in internet radio stations paying the same royalty rates as music broadcasters, including satellite and cable.  With royalties based on revenues, Pandora claims that satellite radio’s royalty bill is 7.5 percent of revenues and cable pays about 15 percent.  However, when it comes to streaming, Pandora says it pays more than 50 percent of revenue in royalties.

But royalties for internet purveyors of music have been a controversial issue since melodic bits and bytes first dribbled out of a modem and the Internet Radio Fairness Act is no exception, mainly because many people in the music biz believe there’s hardly anything that could be described as “fair” in the proposed legislation.

People such as Waters, Gilmour and Mason, for example.  The three Pink Floyd members recently voiced their displeasure in an op-ed in USA Today, saying that if enacted, the legislation would result in artists getting an “85 percent pay cut.”  They also criticized Pandora’s attempts to drum up support from musicians via letters asking recording artists to sign a “letter of support for internet radio.”

“Of course, this letter doesn’t say anything about an 85 artist percent pay cut,” Pink Floyd said in its op-ed.  “That would probably turn off most musicians who might consider signing on.  All it says about royalties is ‘We are all fervent advocates for the fair treatment of artists.’ And the only hint of Pandora’s real agenda is the innocent sounding line ‘We are also fervent supporters of internet radio and want more than anything for it to grow.’  The petition doesn’t mention that Pandora is pushing the growth of its business directly at the expense of artists’ paychecks.”

Although the members of Pink Floyd served up a generous portion of displeasure with Pandora, they didn’t rule some kind of collaborative spirit such as the internet streamer working with artists on another royalty controversy – radio’s exemption from paying royalties to musicians. But this is something you really have to check out for yourself.  Just click here to read the entire op-ed in USA Today.