Music Pandora To Block UK

[quack]

Just received this email:

hi, it's Tim,

This is an email I hoped I would never have to send.

As you probably know, in July of 2007 we had to block usage of Pandora outside the U.S. because of the lack of a viable license structure for Internet radio streaming in other countries. It was a terrible day. We did however hold out some hope that a solution might exist for the UK, so we left it unblocked as we worked diligently with the rights organizations to negotiate an economically workable license fee. After over a year of trying, this has proved impossible. Both the PPL (which represents the record labels) and the MCPS/PRS Alliance (which represents music publishers) have demanded per track performance minima rates which are far too high to allow ad supported radio to operate and so, hugely disappointing and depressing to us as it is, we have to block the last territory outside of the US.

Based upon the IP address from which you recently visited Pandora, it appears that you are listening from the UK. If you are, in fact, listening from the US, please contact Pandora Support: pandora-support@pandora.com.

It continues to astound me and the rest of the team here that the industry is not working more constructively to support the growth of services that introduce listeners to new music and that are totally supportive of paying fair royalties to the creators of music. I don't often say such things, but the course being charted by the labels and publishers and their representative organizations is nothing short of disastrous for artists whom they purport to represent - and by that I mean both well known and indie artists. The only consequence of failing to support companies like Pandora that are attempting to build a sustainable radio business for the future will be the continued explosion of piracy, the continued constriction of opportunities for working musicians, and a worsening drought of new music for fans. As a former working musician myself, I find it very troubling.

We have been told to sign these totally unworkable license rates or switch off, non-negotiable...so that is what we are doing. Streaming illegally is just not in our DNA, and we have to take the threats of legal action seriously. Lest you think this is solely an international problem, you should know that we are also fighting for our survival here in the US, in the face of a crushing increase in web radio royalty rates, which if left unchanged, would mean the end of Pandora.

We know what an epicenter of musical creativity and fan support the UK has always been, which makes the prospect of not being able to launch there and having to block our first listeners all the more upsetting for us.
We know there is a lot of support from listeners and artists in the UK for Pandora and remain hopeful that at some point we'll get beyond this. We're going to keep fighting for a fair and workable rate structure that will allow us to bring Pandora back to you. We'll be sure to let you know if Pandora becomes available in the UK. There may well come a day when we need to make a direct appeal for your support to move for governmental intervention as we have in the US. In the meantime, we have no choice but to turn off service to the UK.

Pandora will stop streaming to the UK as of January 15th, 2008.

Again, on behalf of all of us at Pandora, I'm very, very sorry.

-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)

This absolutely sucks.

[Ramble]

Proxy?

[oasked]

Sucks, I do wonder how they make any money in the first place though...

[Cinnander]

Damn this sucks, I've been listening to Pandora almost compulsively for weeks now :\

Would be nice if they left open access to the genome project in a non-audio form... e.g. I can search for X and it says you may also like Y, Z, and W.
I suppose it's back to Last.fm's similar artists thing if not.

[MaZ]

Bollocks, love pandora, used it loads at work last year when I didn't have my Mp3 collection to hand. Stuff like this makes me even less inclined to buy music as I just feel the music industry in general and the government agencies that work with licensing laws and such are stuck in the past and unwilling to work for a compromise where everyone is happy and people actually listen to and buy music legitimately again

[BUFF]

[CardJoe]

Originally Posted by oasked

Sucks, I do wonder how they make any money in the first place though...

Site adverts.

[Bindibadgi]

Super-super pissed off.

I feel a blog rant brewing.

[outlawaol]

Hehe.. ever try to stream stuff like this through a proxy? Mwahahaha!

No, really.. I dont know if a proxy would be able to stream this at acceptable speeds or not, heh.

[Fod]

as i said in the other thread - write to your bloody MPs!!

[notatoad]

you guys are lucky you got it for this long. we lost it here in canada early last year.

[will.]

There is always Last FM or sneakier means, but it's a shame and I will miss my stations

[AlexB]

This is a sad day for the internets.

[badders]

Hooray for Ford and their US-Based IP!

[Herbicide]

Well, I've written to my MP...

- H.

[will.]

Because I'm lazy (and at work) but still want to write a letter to my MP, can you stick it up here for me to copy 'n paste?

[Mary Jo]

Edit: I'm an idiot.

[DXR_13KE]

what the hell? i hope PPL and the MCPS/PRS Alliance die a horrible death!!!!! i am going to find every music they protect and every album they protect and i am going to do a complete embargo on themm i will put everyone i can against them at the same time.....

[ChromeX]

Pandora?

EDIT: specofdust dont act like a mong, it was ment in the way that even though the idea of personalised radio stations is a pretty cool concept, I dont use pandora that often, since im happy with the service at deliciousagony.com,so this news doesnt make any difference to me! Not that I didnt know what pandora was!

[specofdust]

Is it really easier to post a thread then quickly googling the thing? This is why SA is good, people who make posts like the above^ get bans

Big shame this one, although I don't think writing to ones MP will do any good. They'll see it as a free market issue, which it is. The product belongs to certain companies, and if they want to only sell that product for insane and impossible rates, that is their choice. As Mr. Tim says, their punishment will be that piracy will continue to explode.