Business Tools Blog

I hit my Pandora Radio 40 hour per month limit today and this message popped up.

What happened?!  Apparently on July 8th, Artists/Record Labels reached agreement with Internet radio companies over how to share revenue from streaming music on the Web.  The deal establishes a two-tier royalty payment system for companies that broadcast music over the Internet.  It calls for large webcasters to pay artists and copyright owners a percentage of all U.S. revenue up to 25 percent or on a per-song basis, whichever is greater. Smaller webcasters — with revenue of less than $1.25 million — will pay a smaller percentage under a different formula.

Am I willing to pay $0.99 per month for Pandora.  Maybe.  I haven’t decided.  I do like Pandora, but to give them my credit card number, I would have to LOVE Pandora.

Here’s why I am not in love with Pandora’s service.  When I select “The Doors” radio,

I get alot of Beatles and Johnny Cash.

Then, I get irritated (There is only so much “I Walk the Line” that a person  can take.)  Instead of Pandora being background music while I work, it becomes a distraction.  I understand that the point of Pandora is to introduce new music.  But generally while I am working, I just want my faves to play in the background, uninterrupted by conscience thought.

Well … I am kicked out until August 1st.  I think I will become a light user of Pandora - using the service as intended to discover new music.  At work, I will stream iTunes and slacker.com free radio.