Pandora's Game of Thrones
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September felt a little like last June, when Pandora found itself flinging lawsuits back and forth with ASCAP and BMI. But this month left the music streaming service winning a battle and fighting for its life within mere days.
On September 17, Pandora won it's federal lawsuit in Manhattan against ASCAP for trying to 'narrow' it's blanket license with the PRO. ASCAP-affiliated music publishers like Universal and Sony/ATV had begun to defect earlier this year in favor of brokering their own private copyright deals with music streaming services, sometimes including Pandora. With a blanket license deal that has turned out to pay musicians a pittance in royalties per stream, ASCAP feared a music publisher-exodus and cried 'no fair' to US Courts. But a deal's a deal, claims the Manhattan federal court: ASCAP and its music publishers are stuck with their original contract with Pandora until it expires in October 2015.
The kicker: the court's ruling wipes out (as of Dec. 31) the recent private licensing deals UMG, Sony/ATV, EMI and BMG brokered outside of their terms with ASCAP. So the fight for fair funds from Pandora is back to square one.
There are other lawsuits still in court, including one with BMI, but news of the ruling could have rocketed Pandora market shares the following day. Much to founder Tim Westergren's delight, no doubt: Pandora's stocks have nearly tripled already this year.
If only Apple hadn't released their new iTunes Radio the next day.
Since releasing iTunes Radio with its iOS 7 upgrade on September 18, iTunes Radio already has more than 11 million users. Point of Perspective: It's taken Pandora over eight years to gather its current 72 million active users. The news has sent Apple stock up 11% and Pandora market shares down 10%.
Exciting times ahead for all. For now, we're seriously digging the dynamic new features iTunes has to offer. Including better royalty pay outs for the musicians that make the music iTunes streams and sells. Well done, iTunes.
Now the question remains: does Pandora always pay its debts?
Read more on court ruling @ Billboard...Read more on court ruling @ Reuters...Read more on iTunes Radio release @ TechCrunch...Read more on iTunes Radio release @ Digital Music News...