Pandora CFO: 'We'd Like To See Artists Get Paid More' For Royalties

CFO: Apple Isn't 'A Threat'

With the recent launch of APPLE's iTunes Radio, PANDORA CFO MIKE HERRING gave a extensive interview with CNET, discussing royalty rates, the APPLE challenge, and his company's challenges, among other topics.

On the topic of royalties, HERRING said the company is exploring more equitable rates.  "It's not about lowering rates -- that's about creating fair rates across lots of distribution channels," HERRING said, adding that last year, PANDORA wrote a check for $250 million in performance royalties, one-fourth of all royalties paid globally on radio.  But he added, "We'd like to see artists get paid more. We also understand the mistrust comes from a pretty tough decade-plus in the music industry."

"It's not that it isn't a threat to PANDORA," HERRING said about iTUNES RADIO. "Don't get us wrong, we take them very seriously and do see them as a credible threat."

HERRING, who joined PANDORA this year from ADOBE, says the Internet radio service faces an uphill battle, calling the company's present status the second inning, "but we're down 10-nothing. That's the bad news. It's early, but we've gotten off on the wrong foot.  Piracy originally laid a really negative backdrop to connected music."

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