Musicians Hoping Pandora Joins Royalty-Fee Cause

Mitch Glazier

Musicians battling for higher royalty payments from radio stations are lobbying former rival Pandora to join their cause, according to The Hill.

Pandora earlier this year abandoned its effort to convince Congress to lower its royalty fees.

The lobbying push had made it an enemy of advocacy groups pressing for royalty payments for musicians.
Now the musician groups hope Pandora will help it press Congress to eliminate an exemption from royalty fees for AM/FM radio stations.

The two sides have compelling joint interests. Musicians want the royalty fees, and Pandora wants a more level playing ground with AM/FM stations.

“We hope now that we can look forward as partners and work together to assure all creators are paid fair market value for the use of their works across all platforms,” Mitch Glazier, senior executive vice president of the Recording Industry Association of America said in a statement.

“We welcome them and have long said that it’s not fair that Pandora pays more,” said Ted Kalo, executive director of the musicFirst Coalition, “but we want that equalized in the right way.”

Radio stations argue they shouldn’t have to pay to play songs because the airplay is free advertising for musicians.

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