Over a hundred musicians are protesting Pandora Radio's effort to convince Congress to pass the Internet Radio Fairness Act, which will cut the that Pandora pays to stream music over the internet.
Many high-profile musicians have joined forces and signed an open letter to congress to reject the Internet Radio Fairness Act. Musicians such as Billy Joel, Missy Elliott, Ludacris, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Maroon 5 and Pink Floyd are among the 125 musicians who signed this letter which was headlined as "A Musicians' Perspective On Pandora."
The letter read:
"We are big fans of Pandora. That's why we helped give the company a discount on rates for the past decade. Pandora is now enjoying phenomenal success as a Wall Street company. Skyrocketing growth in revenues and users. We celebrate that. At the same time, the music community is just now beginning to gain its footing in this new digital world. Pandora's principal asset is the music. Why is the company asking Congress to step in and gut the royalties that thousands of musicians rely upon? That's not fair and that's not how partners work together. Congress has many pressing issues to consider, but this is not one of them. Let's work this out as partners and continue to bring fans the great musical experience they right expect."
Pandora's officials have said it's very important to pass the Internet Radio Fairness Act which will keep them competitive with broadcast radio.
"Today, the discrimination is extraordinary. In 2011, Pandora paid over 50% of revenues in performance royalties, while SiriusXM paid less than 10%," according to Pandora's statement. "Internet radio brings millions of listeners back to music, plays the songs of tens of thousands of promising working artists, enabling them to build their audience while receiving fair compensation."
According to a statement issued by The Internet Radio Fairness Coalition (IFRC) in reply to the open letter signed by the musicians said: "The Internet Radio Fairness Coalition believes that we and the artists all want the same thing - a growing Internet radio industry that helps artists. The Internet Radio Fairness Act will help accomplish that goal.
"We respect the artists' concerns and are willing to work with them through the legislative process to create a healthy, sustainable, growing Internet radio business that benefits them as well as labels, distributors and consumers."
"Billboard" will have the letter published by the end of this week says a report published in Reuters.
New York Stock Exchange shares of Pandora have been affected by the news, with stocks down 3.4 percent at $7.40 Wednesday afternoon.
