Pandora Used to Spend 119% Of Revenue on Royalties

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20110212/pandoras-music-fees-are-huge-and-not-that-bad/

by pakafka • 15 years ago

51 23 15 years ago

mediamemo.allthingsd.com

jaaron• 15 years ago

Splitting at least 50% with the studios or labels is pretty standard. It's one reason why the Apple 30% app store tax makes no sense for some businesses (ebooks, vod, music).

mnutt• 15 years ago

Or alternatively it's why record label contracts make no sense anymore.

blhack• 15 years ago

Facebook used to spend (1/0)% of revenue on hosting.

j_baker5• 15 years ago

So facebook spent a mathematically undefined amount on hosting? Sounds like something a BigCo would do to get out of paying their hosting bill.

yason• 15 years ago

I wish there was a 'compulsory licensing' for individuals for personal use. Pay a lump sum and then you're obliged to receive a license for downloading whatever you want from whatever source you like. If the MPAA/RIAA goons log your IP address and send you a notice of copyright infringement, slam the license on their face, and politely ask them to fsck off.

alain94040• 15 years ago

Would you support the same compulsory licensing for the software you write? Are shareware authors bad people? (I'm trying to push this argument to understand why we need to treat music differently).

megaman8212• 15 years ago

This really isn't an apt comparison at all. Music has a pretty limited set of uses than can be enumerated and license fees can be assigned to. This would allow for more competition and innovation in the music space if every new service didn't have to spend years upon years negotiating with the record labels.

It would be even better if television and movies also had compulsory licenses. Maybe not for new releases but after a certain amount of time the value of certain types of videos becomes nearly equal.

j_baker5• 15 years ago

Music isn't different, but it's treated that way presently. For instance, if I build a website using Windows, .Net, and SQL Server, I don't have to give Microsoft 50% of my revenue. Same with shareware. I don't have to rely on other big companies to negotiate deals with the shareware authors. I just buy the software directly from them.

tomjen32• 15 years ago

Software authors are different from musicians - we don't go to the government and pay money to have our problems fixed by fiat.

So thats why the price should be different too.

zipdog• 15 years ago

Although it would complicate matters, I'd prefer the license to be by song or by band or similar. Otherwise they'd either need to track your listening/downloading habits to make payments to artists fair, or else just make the payments on their own metrics (which are always tilted toward the artists most controlled by the labels)

patio11• 15 years ago

Supposing we wave a magic wand and eliminate all legal, contractual, technical, and logistical barriers to doing that, how much do you think would be fair for unmatched, untrackable, all-you-can eat access to music?

tomjen32• 15 years ago

There is no such thing as fair pricing, the only price is the lowest you can get (if you are the buyer) or the highest you can get (if you are the seller).

Getting a fair price is handing power to your enemy in a zero sum game.

Joakal• 15 years ago

Compulsory licensing already exists: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Private_copyi...

And these goes to the music groups where if you're a band, you must apply for royalties. I don't think any band got very much at all. 'Government-sanctioned guilds'

anonymous246• 15 years ago

Content producer makes decent money. Middlemen (aka "Internet companies", HN) freak out. News at 11.

j_baker5• 15 years ago

There's a difference between making money and highway robbery. And note that we aren't talking about content producers making money. We're talking about middlemen who serve very little purpose anymore making far more money than they deserve.

dustingetz3• 15 years ago

nobody "deserves" anything.

Pandora Used to Spend 119% Of Revenue on Royalties

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