Pandora - why we need to break the controls on music distribution

Seems like Pandora, the Internet radio trying to stay alive from advertising revenue is feeling a lot of pressure from the people who want to control distribution of music so that they control the flow of money back to the artists.

Why? Here -

Last year, an obscure federal panel ordered a doubling of the per-song performance royalty that Web radio stations pay to performers and record companies.

Traditional radio, by contrast, pays no such fee. Satellite radio pays a fee but at a less onerous rate, at least by some measures.

As for Pandora, its royalty fees this year will amount to 70 percent of its projected revenue of $25 million, Westergren said, a level that could doom it and other Web radio outfits.

Hypebot is encouraging people to email their congressman now. If you are in the USA, that is

What we need is fans and artists to realise that music, literature and other art forms need to break free from the controls of distributors that are suffocating both artists and us fans. We believe the way out is patronage and so do a lot of artists. We’ll get there, surely.