Pandora to negotiate royalties with musicians after Pink Floyd slams the service

This week saw Pink Floyd ripping Pandora a new one with an aggressive op-ed article regarding the music streaming service’s request over slashing royalties for musicians. Now, it has emerged that talks are underway between the radio service and groups representing artistes about ending this feud.

Multiple sources close to the matter have told The Verge that formal negotiations between Pandora and groups representing music artistes, indie and major labels are expected to kick off soon. Of the matters that will be discussed,  most will mainly revolve around how much royalties should web radio services pay musicians and labels for their music.

Talks to commence soon

The feud kicked off ever since Pandora appealed to the Congress to enforce a cut of 85 percent in royalties for musicians, something the latter opposed strongly. The radio service slunk away for a while before kicking the hornet’s nest again.

Legendary rock band Pink Floyd, known to be very picky about Internet radio, jumped into the war of words with an op-ed column for USA Today on Monday. The band accused Pandora of emotionally blackmailing musicians into getting them to support the cut in royalties.

Pandora had been sending out unsolicited mails to musicians that apparently tried to hoodwink artistes into supporting the reduction in royalties for themselves. The mail asks bands to be a “part of the conversation” Pandora is having with its listeners but fails to mention the royalty cut, something that has angered Pink Floyd. “But a business that exists to deliver music can’t really complain that its biggest cost is music. You don’t hear grocery stores complain they have to pay for the food they sell. Netflix pays more for movies than Pandora pays for music, but they aren’t running to Congress for a bailout. Everyone deserves the right to be paid a fair market rate for their work, regardless of what their work entails,” the band slammed the service.

Indie musician, David Lowrey says that despite his song getting played on Pandora one million times, all he received in payment from it was a paltry $16.89. That amount, he points out, is less than what he makes through sales of a single T-shirt.

The talks that have been long overdue will now try to find a middle path between musicians and the service over royalty cuts.