In the never-ending, century-old battle between corporations and content producers: I give you the latest bit of pro-artist activism. This is taken directly from the Grammy Foundation's website:
Tell Congress to Save Music and Stop the "Pandora Bailout Bill.
Don't let the government force artists to subsidize Wall St. Corporations
We all love Internet radio. Services like Pandora play a diverse range of music and pay artists the royalties they deserve.
But last year, Pandora went public and now it’s acting like so many other companies on Wall Street— it’s asking for a bailout. This time, the government subsidy would be paid for by artists.
Pandora is asking Congress to pass the deceptively entitled the "Internet Radio Fairness Act." This bill will take money away from music creators and give it to Wall Street shareholders. The bill would allow Pandora to pay royalties that are below the fair market rate, increasing its profits while reducing payments to the music creators that are the backbone of its business.
Pandora is worth an estimated $1.8 billion and is expected to make over $600 million next year. It can afford to compensate hard-working artists and music professionals by paying fair market royalty rates.
Contact your Senator and Congressman today and tell them to oppose the falsely named "Internet Radio Fairness Act" (H.R. 6480/S. 3609). There's nothing fair about robbing music creators to pay for Pandora's profits.
