Internet Fairness Act Appears Dead As Pandora Pulls Support

Pulls Support

Ongoing attempts to pass royalty rate legislation suffered a major blow, as PANDORA has reportedly given up its support to get Congress to act on the so called Internet Fairness Act. BILLBOARD reports, "instead of pursuing legislation, PANDORA will focus its efforts on lobby­ing the COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD (CRB), the three-judge panel that sets statutory rates for webcasters like PANDORA. The current rates run through 2015."

PANDORA released a short statement, with a representative saying the company, "will focus on other paths to resolution.”

It's expected PANDORA will now pursue direct deals with labels, something APPLE did when launching iTUNES RADIO.

SOUNDEXCHANGE Pres./CEO MICHAEL HUPPE quickly released a statement, writing “We’re pleased to learn that PANDORA is abandoning the Internet Radio Fairness Act, which would have deeply impacted the way artists and other creators are paid for digital radio plays. SOUNDEXCHANGE shares PANDORA’s frustration that not all platforms of radio play by the same rules, and that AM/FM radio does not pay anything for the use of sound recordings. As we said when we testified before Congress last year, SOUNDEXCHANGE will always fight to get fair compensation for recording artists and record labels, and keep fighting until everyone plays by the same rules. We hope PANDORA will once again join us in our efforts to create a level playing field, and for all radio platforms to pay fairly for the use of sound recordings.”

« see more Net News