Pandora may be shutting down

I’ve written before about my love for Pandora, the streaming music service which allows you to discover new music which matches characteristics of other music you like.  Unfortunately, it looks like Pandora’s days may be numbered.

From Washington Post article:

“Pandora is one of the nation’s most popular Web radio services, with about 1 million listeners daily. Its Music Genome Project allows customers to create stations tailored to their own tastes. It is one of the 10 most popular applications for Apple’s iPhone and attracts 40,000 new customers a day.”

The company’s service is slick, user friendly, and incredibly entertaining (especially if you need good background music while doing work or chores around the house).  They’ve even been able to monetize the site, purportedly to the tune of $25 million in annual revenues.

So why would they be forced to shut down?  Asinine legislation driven by the deep pockets of the terrestrial radio lobby.

“Last year, an obscure federal panel ordered a doubling of the per-song performance royalty that Web radio stations pay to performers and record companies.

Traditional radio, by contrast, pays no such fee. Satellite radio pays a fee but at a less onerous rate, at least by some measures.”

It’s yet another example of a dying (or potentially evolving) industry which refuses to innovate and instead is trying to take all others to the deathbed with it.  Pandora says that at the current rates, 70% of 2008 revenues will go towards paying the royalties - and that they will pull the plug on the service rather than waste money.

I, for one, hope a solution can be found - though I don’t believe it’s likely at this point.  For all other Pandora lovers, better get it while you can.