HN user
They totally should, BUT it seems SoundExchange STILL gets the money through something like lobbied-through by RIAA legislation of compulsory licensing even for non-label music (now that I'd call borderline criminal) http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2007/04/30/riaa-... http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/24/141326/870/429/32706...
Although I can't access Pandora anymore (wrong continent!) it sucks to see how the greedy bastards are managing to squeeze out of existence yet another genuinely innovative service. I'm also afraid of the other US-based indie web radios going under, sort of bizarre as they're NOT even playing any major label content, yet the same deals through SoundExchange / Copyright board apply :-o
Though keep in mind, US != world, and webcasters elsewhere can have fairer licensing deals so perhaps this will give a chance for innovation to flourish elsewhere (damn well hope so!)
Besides the tragic (or incompetent?) tech failures, what do folks here think about the founder initially just calling it quits on the community?
Having followed this particular crash-recovery saga unfold and being involved with web 2.0 otherwise, it would be interesting to hear a few thoughts over this: what's the responsibility of the platform provider towards their possibly very engaged community - or is there any?
It would be nice to have European startup community represented more there - or perhaps brand another site to serve folks with EU-wide working capability.
Easier said than done perhaps, given the cultural and linguistic diversity but as a soon-to-be jobhopper towards Central Europe with natural affinity towards startups, this sort of thing would be sweet.
Up north - you might just want to keep an eye on the Finns given their past tech track record ;) http://www.arcticstartup.com/ http://www.startupbin.com/
India: http://vijaysblog.wordpress.com/
Canada: http://montrealtechwatch.com/ http://www.startupottawa.com/