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Jul 18 2008 12:00am EDT
Save Pandora!
Russ Mitchell rallies the troops: Pandora is one of the most-reviewed, highest-rated, popular new apps on the iPhone. I just received my iPhone 3G; Pandora is one of the best things about it. But in a matter of months, unless Congress intervenes, Pandora could disappear.
Pandora is internet radio -- you can customize stations and hear free streams of the kind of music you like.
Based on feedback you provide, the service figures out what other songs you might want to hear and delivers recommended tracks. I'm amazed at how well it can figure out my own musical tastes, and I've been surprised by some how many new artists I've discovered, some of them from back in the 1960s. I've bought a bunch of new music as a result.
However, Pandora and all if internet radio is in danger of dying. Not just dying. Being killed by -- who else? -- the record labels.
The labels are intent on charging so a high price for streaming royalties that Pandora and its even-weaker peers would be forced out of business. That appears to be exactly what the labels want, despite the fact that research shows these kind of services actually increase record sales, as listeners discover new music and reconnect with old favorites.
Pandora and others are willing to pay royalties but need rates low enough to make enough profit to keep the service going.
Such royalties historically have been set by government. Pandora is trying to get the attention of Congress, while making clear that Pandora's demise would cause internet radio to be dominated by the likes of Clear Channel. In other words, a faceless company's idea of mass hit entertainment shoved down our earholes.
Pandora is planning a high-energy lobbying campaign to keep itself alive. A similar effort last year overwhelmed fax machines throughout the Congress, which then asked the labels and the internet radio companies to work something out.
The labels made sure that didn't happen. Now Pandora is almost out of cash.
If you're not familiar with Pandora, check it out. If you end up loving it as much as its millions of rabid fans already do, keep a close eye on the site for the next couple weeks. Get ready to email or fax the senators and representatives who hold the power to let Pandora internet radio as we know it live or die.
