BuffettNews.com

Musicians fight Pandora’s move to cut royalties
By CLAIRE ATKINSON

Rihanna, Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett and scores of other music stars are fighting mad over a move by music-streamer Pandora to cut the amount of royalties it pays them.

By one account, the move by the Oakland, Calif.-based Internet company could reduce royalties by $229 million, or more.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/b ... fIaFxtsGdL

I must admit, I hardly ever listen to music on Pandora.

I don't listen to it all, same for other streaming services such as Spotify. Unfortunately Spotify rewards musicians with next to no royalties. It's sad to see musicians so undervalued via business models such as this. Add to that a good portion of society who doesn't feel like they should have to pay for music when all they have to do is steal it from torrent (and similar) sites and you only add to already tough economic times for lots of musicians out there. I finally came around to the iPod within the past few years but since I only use my cellphone as a phone, the ability to stream and store music on it has never really appealed to me. Between internet radio, my iTunes collection (which is comprised almost solely of my own CD's), terrestrial and satellite radio (which I'm about to drop) I already have access to more music than I can shake a stick at. As I'm sure many of you know, this very thing was the source of lots of controversy earlier this year thanks to this article from an NPR intern and the response from David Lowery (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker), who, in addition to being a musician also teaches a music business course at the University of Georgia in Athens. Much needed debate followed as to the current business model for services such as Spotify and the ethics of how many of us obtain music. This hasn't resulted in any sort of radical change but at least it did open up a discourse on it via the internet. I'm not sure how it's all going to shake out but hopefully a business model will soon be put in place that satisfies both the consumer and the musicians. Right now they're being subjected to highway robbery and too many people that don't have to pay a penny for music are quite alright with that.

So what.... Jimmy loses a penny or two per play on Pandora? I am sure he will survive and be able to put food on the table for the family. Seriously, the guy has an empire. Have you looked at Margaritaville.com lately? Buffett sells everything under the sun with the Margaritaville name. Don't get me wrong.. I too buy into the dynasty and am a huge fan of the MUSIC but branding everything Margaritaville and playing right into every PH vulnerability. He knows the PH nation will buy everything he puts out at an outrageous price. I bought one of the very first Margarita makers and it was built nice and the pitcher was glass. Have you seen the new ones? Plastic junk!

"So what......?" This from a poster whose only other post is nearly 3 years old and has to do with getting into Jokelben to get free music.
Yeah, Jimmy will probably do OK, but this isn't about Jimmy, it's about the entire industry.
For every JB, there are hundreds of struggling musicians trying to make it and to them every penny counts.
As far as that goes, Jimmy is where he is thanks to all those pennies in the past

Art vs commerce.

The past was getting the music for free with the players being payed by advertising and the artists being payed by sales. The paradigm has changed and everyone is getting used to the new still fluid market. There will be negotiations between artists (their business people at least) and the providers of music. Providers like Pandora sell advertising just like the radio stations always have but pay the artists directly for use of their music. That will be negotiable as the profits of the service stabilize. A happy medium will be found.

The consumer just wants to hear music and paying for it by listening to a few commercials has been the standard up until the pay for downloads started over a decade ago. The fact that we are willing to pay for downloads after Napster gave them away for years shows the flexibility of the consumer.

There is always money to be made. Jimmy merchandises. Owning music catalogs can be very lucrative. I know a guy who owns a huge catalog. He sold the rights to "That's Amore" to UPS for their "That's Logistics" campaign. He made a bundle. I should be so lucky.

gber, I don't think it has anything to do with Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, the Who, Aerosmith, you choose them, even if any of them will fight Pandora for cutting royalties. I think it's more the new bands who won't get paid for their sweat, and them doing all the touring in shitty bars before they make it big. A lot of musicians go into a lot of debt when they make their albums. I hear it takes a musician three or four really big albums before they even break even. Even though there is some selfishness with all the artists listed by Molly or by the article, I think they are trying to help out the musicians who want to make it big.