Lately it seems that all the publicity in the world won't do Pandora any good. Last month Pandora's founder, Tim Westergren, talked about making a "pull-the-plug kind of decision" for the service. "The moment we think this problem in Washington is not going to get solved, we have to pull the plug because all we're doing is wasting money," Westergren stated.
For those who don't know, Pandora has been facing closure due to being hit with outrageous fees by a federal panel. Now Westergren is sending a plea to listeners of Pandora for their support.
Update: The House has passed the Webcaster Settlement Act. Please see Pandora Lives a Little Longer, House Passes Webcaster Act for an update on this story.
Yesterday Westergren posted his "call of arms" to the Pandora blog:
"After a yearlong negotiation, Pandora, artists and record companies are finally optimistic about reaching an agreement on royalties that would save Pandora and Internet radio. But just as we've gotten close, large traditional broadcast radio companies have launched a covert lobbying campaign to sabotage our progress.Yesterday, Congressman Jay Inslee, and several co-sponsors, introduced legislation to give us the extra time we need but the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which represents radio broadcasters such as Clear Channel, has begun intensively pressuring lawmakers to kill the bill. We have just a day or two to keep this from collapsing.
This is a blatant attempt by large radio companies to suffocate the webcasting industry that is just beginning to offer an alternative to their monopoly of the airwaves.
Please call your Congressperson right now and ask them to support H.R. 7084, the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 - and to not capitulate to pressure from the NAB. Congress is currently working extended hours, so even calls this evening and over the weekend should get answered."
Here at ReadWriteWeb, we're huge fans of Pandora. We'd hate to see the service make our list of apps that we miss. We're asking our readers for their help in saving Pandora. Please call the central congressional switchboard at (202) 225 3121 or look up your state's House Representative and plead with them to support H.R. 7084. This will allow Pandora and all respective parties to have more time to make the necessary changes that could keep Pandora alive. Support the cause to keep this awesome service going.
Comments
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this just goes to show how scared traditional radio is of internet based services, they cant stand up to the competition in a fair fight so they just try to throw their weight and money around and run them out of buisness politicaly. this type of commercial politicing really makes me sick.
Posted by: Deroblo | September 27, 2008 8:19 AM
I love Pandora. I hope it will get all the support it needs.
Posted by: Dealyzer | September 27, 2008 9:04 AM
always the same...
Posted by: restcat | September 27, 2008 9:33 AM
One thing that'll cloud any amount of commonsense, good reasoning and innovation of people that move a country forward, is such politicking.... and will cause eventual collapse despite all.
Posted by: Gubbi | September 27, 2008 9:36 AM
I'll support Pandora to the end. I would even start paying for the service (wouldn't you?). I'm really surprised that the effort to "save" Pandora has been so focused on changing legislation (something that's notoriously hard to do, especially in a short period of time). It's a great service that's worth paying for. So why hasn't the Save-Pandora effort been multi-pronged? There are so many users who've put in time to training the software to "know" them - there is value in that. What about subscription options? Freemium service offerings? Opt-in/Opt-out options for long-tail musicians who need the exposure and don't care about royalties?
I use Pandora, not because I want to hear Metallica or U2...but because I like those bands and I want to find the next big currently-no-name innovators based on my music preferences. The real value to Pandora users is being able to find the great new bands no one has ever heard of. Using pandora's service is the best way to crowdsource the task of finding new music. So why focus on paying royalties for already-popular music? Why not offer a premium subscription service for users who want to listen to big bands, but offer a free option for people who just want the new no-name stuff? I'd pay to have the "everything" option. What say you?
Posted by: Steffan Antonas | September 27, 2008 11:41 AM
Pandora should put this issue on their front page so that more users are aware of their problems.
Posted by: Max | September 27, 2008 12:16 PM
I contacted my congressperson - have you? If you like Pandora contact your representative. It's easy to do!
Posted by: Mark | September 27, 2008 12:17 PM
www.slacker.com
its better than pandora and not under seige
Posted by: jeffm | September 27, 2008 2:05 PM
but Pandora doesn't make my ears bleed bye listening to Brittany spears new song :[
they cant take this away from me .
Posted by: kimberly | September 27, 2008 2:49 PM
I just wrote to my representative. Here's hoping this gets passed.
Posted by: Jon | September 27, 2008 2:53 PM
I sent notice to my representative!
I indeed love Pandora, but for a few years I have wanted a firefox add-on where I can choose/listen/control any .mp3 indexed on the web, so I dont have 2 be at this or that site, but just have Firefox opened and control it from bottom of firefox.
Luckily someone made just that ... see Fire.FM firefox add-on. It uses Last.FM to stream the music and acts just like Pandora,but you don't have 2 have any web site open.
Posted by: Joe | September 27, 2008 3:30 PM
I sent my congressman an email. This is ridiculous. Be sure to contact your congressman also.
Posted by: Arron Hutcheson | September 27, 2008 4:12 PM
I contacted my representative. Will you? It's easy!
Posted by: Nate Sutton | September 27, 2008 4:46 PM
My support is in, and I have contacted my state representative: Jerry McNerney.
Posted by: Tony | September 27, 2008 6:21 PM
THE BILL PASSED the House! Thanks for your help!
Up next: going to the Senate.
Keep tabs on the latest here: http://blog.pandora.com, here: http://friendfeed.com/pandoraradio, or here: http://twitter.com/pandora_radio
Rock on. :)
- Lucia, from Pandora
Posted by: Lucia @ Pandora | September 27, 2008 7:47 PM
Anybody have a "copy+paste" email that sounds good?
Posted by: Burke | September 27, 2008 8:14 PM
As an overseas listener, I've been prevented from tuning in to my beloved Pandora station for about a year. It's frustrating that I can't do anything to aid the cause, I feel completely impotent, sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how all of this will pan out.
Wish Tim and all the best of luck - and long for the day when service is restored.
Posted by: Mike | September 27, 2008 9:07 PM
Yup, I'm going to write to my congressman about this. I use Pandora all the time and it's a shame to see their revenues being eaten up by the current laws and royalty fees.
Posted by: Free Xbox 360 Premium | September 27, 2008 11:17 PM
Pandora is awesome, and the gnome project is an amazing piece of work, i know there is so much more on its future. there is room for endless dBs of media. This is once again how the flow of creativity manifests against a f#&`d up system and for real.. man, this is gotta change, and is not just Pandora. I love the fact that they are moving from legislation, but young people, we are slackers... why spend the time picturing this as a stupid ``race`` or something in control of the man. all it takes is for us to pick the phone or write an email to these guys and let me know, hey! we want to share our music (online), let it be. not enough people are doing this and i still do not understand.. who is the fm.. who is the industry.. who is Britney! ...
real artists actually want the exposure, they love it, they get more from the kid in the corner who mixtaped an underground bootleg and share it around and thats how you actually get famous enough that you can sit back and wrap your album (*.mp3) while it sells in a store. but now they all sit in front of a computer and share files.. and put them on flash memories to be carried around..
there shouldnt be no safekeeping of the industry`s interest, this isnt fair. at the end is not the artists safekeeping, its theirs.
i dont like drm so far, but it has great possibility. picture if the a band were getting $x,xx money from every time you play their song, thats it, everytime you hit play you transfer a electronic fee to the artist, that small amout there, with no hussles, chik-clin! how well itd work for everybody and how fair it could be... cut on distro, middlemans, everybody, and i think there is a mass of people just waiting for things to change so they can expose their art too, in a way that could get fair recognition.
if you old go -> www.retirement-day.com
Posted by: FP | September 28, 2008 12:53 AM
They should also really try to bring it worldwide after that problem is fixed.
Posted by: free xbox 360 | September 28, 2008 9:11 PM
I love love love Pandora! Long live this site!
Posted by: MarcyM
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September 30, 2008 2:30 PM
Good to now see internet radio survive for awhile longer. Hopefully it keeps staying on.
Posted by: free ps3 | October 3, 2008 11:00 PM
Please do a follow up to this ongoing saga?
Posted by: AD Public Relations
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October 23, 2008 6:10 AM