Pandora Drops IRFA, Spotify Adds Pressure, Dr. Dre Brings Beats

Pandora stopped pushing it's Internet Radio Fairness Act on Congress at the end of November because it didn't see an end in sight.

"We are pragmatic and recognize the low probability that Congress will address this issue in the near term," said Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren. "Pandora will focus on other paths to resolution."

That's the sound of the music streamer catching it's breath before roaring into battle with the Copyright Royalty Board, ahead of renegotiating it's licensing terms with labels in 2015.

Yet some groups, like SoundExchange, are still are hoping Pandora will join forces to make satellite and radio broadcasters pay performance royalties (they currently only pay songwriters royalties). Pandora has been a fan of the idea in the past, seeing it as a way to 'level the playing field' with its competitors in music broadcast.

Bear in mind that advertising is where Pandora makes most of its money; way more than its streaming competitors. It also continues to come out on top in streaming service user reviews for both new music discovery and playlist relevance.

Meanwhile, Spotify said this month it will soon be expanding its US business model, and partnering with Next Big Sound to provide data dashboards for artists on who streams their music, how it's shared, and what they're earning in royalties as a result. Many artists, including Thom Yorke, Beck and David Byrne, have been grumbling recently about Spotify's lack of artistic support and financial transparency.

Following the success of his Beats by Dre headphones, Dr. Dre just announced he also plans to launch his own music streaming company, called Beats Music.

And Google+ is nudging its way into the streaming market via YouTube and Google Play, with aggressive plans for expanding their market share in 2014.

Learn more about Pandora dropping IRFA @ Gigaom...Learn more about Pandora dropping IRFA @ Hypebot...Learn more about Pandora vs. the competition @ The Motley Fool...Learn more about Spotify's analytics dashboard @ The Guardian...Learn more about Dr. Dre's Beats Music @ The Guardian...