This is just plain wrong.
New legislation called The Internet Radio Fairness Act or IRFA (H.R. 6480/S. 3609) proposes a radical change in the way royalties are decided – reducing them – and Pandora CEO Tim Westergren has led the fight for it. The law would cut musicians’ pay by 85 per cent – reducing Pandora’s royalty costs from 50 per cent to 10 per cent. Thanks to the historical muscle of the radio lobby, the USA remains of the few countries in the world which does not pay creators for the public performances of sound recordings. The bill doesn’t level the playing field up, but down: everyone must get poorer.
"It reeks of desperation," observes one investor on the Seeking Alpha site:
“Pandora is crying to congress for help because they can’t turn a profit by giving away content to users for free with limited exposure to advertising, and because they can’t get enough paying subscribers from their extensive base of ‘free’ listeners. If I were an investor, I’d sell immediately just like the insiders have been doing en masse, or at the very least I would demand some real answers from Tim Westergren on why he can’t make this business model ‘work’.”
via Pandora boss urges 85% pay cut for musicians • The Register.
