Floydian anti-Pandora rhetoric

MONEY, IT’S A GAS: Roger Waters joined his former Pink Floyd bandmates David Gilmour and Nick Mason in penning an editorial in USA Today taking Pandora to task for its ongoing efforts to enlist artist support for legislation that would lower its royalty rates. “It's a matter of principle for us,” they write, arguing that music services” should fairly pay the artists and creators who make the music at the core of their businesses.” They back up their argument with persuasive stats, pointing out that nearly 90% of the artists who get a check for digital play receive less than $5k a year and can’t afford the 85% pay cut Pandora asked Congress to impose, while Pandora raised $235 million in its IPO and doubled its listeners in the last two years. “We're not saying that the music business is perfect or that there is no room to compromise," the editorial concludes. “Artists would gladly work with Pandora to end AM/FM's radio exemption from paying any musician royalties—a loophole that hurts artists and digital radio alike. Other changes and compromises may be possible as well. The open letter to Pandora that we signed last year said, ‘Let’s work this out as partners’ and that's what we should do. But tricking artists into signing a confusing petition without explaining what they are really being asked to support only poisons the well.” (6/25p)