Musicians are pushing back against Pandora and the Internet Radio Fairness Act. Musicians protest royalty system

A coalition of 125 musicians — from Motown’s Martha Reeves to Maroon 5 — is telling Congress that Web radio sites like Pandora need to keep paying the piper for Internet airplay.

In an open letter to be published in Billboard, the artists, who include 40 Grammy winners, contend that Congress has more important things to do than debate the Internet Radio Fairness Act — legislation they contend will cut their pay.


“Congress has many pressing issues to consider, but this is not one of them,” write the artists. “Let’s work this out as partners and continue to bring fans the great musical experience they rightly expect.”

The musicians’ coalition contends that Congress has done enough to boost Pandora over the past decade by giving the Internet radio company a break on royalties, and now it’s time for the artists to share the wealth.

“Pandora is now enjoying phenomenal success as a Wall Street company,” the musicians write. “We celebrate that. At the same time, the music community is just now beginning to gain its footing in this new digital world. Pandora’s principal asset is the music. Why is the company now asking Congress once again to step in and gut the royalties that thousands of musicians rely upon?”

While the letter is signed by the likes of Don Henley, Vince Gill and CeeLo Green, their signatures were marshaled by MusicFIRST, an artists’ rights organization, and SoundExchange, a performance rights organization that collects royalties for Internet-delivered music.

“These artists have joined together to tell Pandora it’s time to go back to the drawing board. We all want Internet radio to succeed, but it won’t if it tries to do so on the backs of hardworking musicians and singers,” MusicFIRST Executive Director Ted Kalo said in a statement.

The letter, featuring the iconic image of a rock ’n’ roll guitar, makes clear that the legislation pushed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in the Senate and Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) in the House is going to be in for a tough fight.

On Tuesday, Wyden addressed the Future of Music Coalition’s annual conference about the legislation he’s backing, which would allow Internet radio companies, like Pandora, to pay royalty rates more in line with those paid by satellite radio providers like Sirius XM.

“This is the beginning of the debate, folks,” Wyden told the group. “This is not the final package. … I’m certainly not wedded to every part of the bill, but I do think we ought to put together a new coalition of artists and consumers.”

For years, online radio services such as Pandora have complained that a federal judicial standard for setting royalty rates leaves them at an economic disadvantage. The Internet Radio Fairness Act, which is likely to get a hearing in the House later this month, would allow some online radio services to use the same standard as satellite radio services to determine royalty rates. Artists, record labels and groups such as the NAACP have weighed in against the bill, saying it will deprive copyright holders of fair payments.

According to Wyden, Pandora and its supporters, prospective Internet radio players have been scared off by an unfavorable royalty system. If Congress puts Pandora and its brethren on a level playing field, it would make the pie larger and end up putting more money in artists’ pockets, they contend.

But the open letter from musicians comes on the heels of an announcement by Pandora and its allies — including the Consumer Electronics Association and Clear Channel Communications — of the formation of their own coalition to support the legislation.

But to the recording artists, the question comes down to how they make a living in the digital age.

“This issue is critical to the tens of thousands of recording artists we represent — all of whom rely on this digital performance revenue stream to make a living,” SoundExchange President Michael Huppe said in a statement. “It is important that we protect artists and the long-term value of their music, which is, after all, the foundation of Internet radio.”