save pandora + internet radio
Call me a sucker, but...
I got this letter below in my personal email and though it has that aura of pointless spam-mestry, I believe it's true because (a) it appeared in a nice font and had no major grammatical misspellings; (b) I read about the legislationelsewhere; and (c) I checked the link and it goes to what appears to be an authentic petition generating site.
But I digress...
Have you tried Pandora?
It is such a cool way to find new music. I've turned all my friends onto it. I'm already a total convert to internet radio, but this is like being your own deejay with access to music you've never heard about before.
The way you dictate your own playlist is by naming a favorite song or band, or a few songs or a few bands that somehow capture your favorite sound. Pandora objectively supplies you with tunes that have the "sound," but from lots of new bands and bands I've never heard of before. SO I am constantly "discovering" new music. It's endlessly fun.
Anyway, I love it so, just like Arrested Development and My So-Called Life, it's doomed.
Here's what I got from Tim (who I don't actually know but he is the founder of Pandora, so I happily give him my time):
Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,
I'm writing today to ask for your help. The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays, and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora.
In response to these new and unfair fees, we have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters. I hope that you will consider joining us.
Please sign our petition urging your Congressional representative to act to save Internet radio: www.capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541.
Please feel free to forward this link/email to your friends - the more petitioners we can get, the better.
Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception. As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians. The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential.
I hope you'll take just a few minutes to sign our petition - it WILL make a difference. As a young industry, we do not have the lobbying power of the RIAA. You, our listeners, are by far our biggest and most influential allies.
As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support.
-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)