Monday, June 24, 2013 - 3:50pm
The three surviving members of rock royalty Pink Floyd attacked leading webcaster Pandora today for its efforts to reduce its music licensing costs in USA Today.
An op-ed from the band seems mostly constructed around oft-repeated talking points from the RIAA and music industry lobby group musicFIRST.
After the record industry corralled recording artists for its campaign to stop the "Internet Radio Fairness Act" (more here) in the last Congress, Pandora began to reach out to artists for support. The webcaster hopes to show Congress that there are recording artists who value Pandora as a promotional vehicle, and understand that royalty relief may be vital to its survival.
Again, using the well-worn tropes of earlier music industry efforts, Pink Floyd characterizes Pandora's efforts as an attempt to "trick artists" in their efforts to "slash royalties." Even the peril of an "85% artist pay cut," and the accusation that Pandora wants "growth of its business directly at the expense of artists' paychecks," are nearly word-for-word rehash of SoundExchange press releases.
One more-interesting sentiment from the band's op-ed: They want Pandora's help to get them royalties from AM/FM radio.
"Artists would gladly work with Pandora to end AM/FM's radio exemption from paying any musician royalties," Pink Floyd wrote, in apparent belief that webcasters' lobby on Capitol Hill could achieve something the record industry's can't.
Read Pink Floyd's op-ed in USA Today here.