Pink Floyd pulls out of Pandora

[AdamJoshua]

Originally Posted by T.G

That $5k is after the recording label gets their cut, which is huge.

A lot more than 5k is being paid out, the artists are getting screwed on the trickle down because typically they get very little from sales and broadcast royalty revenue. Bands like Pink Floyd own most, if not all, of their song rights, so they get the fat check, not the label.

I believe the point they (Pink Floyd) are trying to make is that Pandora now wants to cut 85% of that 5K out saying they, Pandora, aren't making enough money, on the surface at least it would appear that Pink Floyd are sticking up for the little guy. Sure they are also looking out for themselves but they are hardly pulling a Metallica here.

The statement is 90% of the acts are getting that 5K range, I'm sure the rest of them are the bands that own the rights to their own music and do quite a bit better, not sure how much but certainly not 5 grand.

Personally I like to see the big guns sticking up for the smaller acts, whether they are secretly being selfish money grubbing slime, at least on the surface they are putting a good face on it and they might be able to do some good for the smaller guys in a reverse collateral damage sort of way.

Edit: Right back on.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by AdamJoshua

I believe the point they (Pink Floyd) are trying to make is that Pandora now wants to cut 85% of that 5K out saying they, Pandora, aren't making enough money, on the surface at least it would appear that Pink Floyd are sticking up for the little guy. Sure they are also looking out for themselves but they are hardly pulling a Metallica here.

The statement is 90% of the acts are getting that 5K range, I'm sure the rest of them are the bands that own the rights to their own music and do quite a bit better, not sure how much but certainly not 5 grand.

Personally I like to see the big guns sticking up for the smaller acts, whether they are secretly being selfish money grubbing slime, at least on the surface they are putting a good face on it and they might be able to do some good for the smaller guys in a reverse collateral damage sort of way.

Edit: Right back on.

No, Pandora doesn't specifically want to cut 85% of the artists fee, they want to cut 85% of what they are paying the label, the artists are inconsequential victims of circumstance in this.

The music industry really isn't that simple when it comes to who gets what when it comes to payouts. The record label took all the financial risk with the songwriter, the artists, the recording, production, distribution and promotion/advertising, therefore they tend to get the biggest slice of the pie. All kinds of other guys get paid off, like the producer, and then finally the songwriter and the artists. A few percent is about all that's left for them, since, from a financial business risk aspect, all they did was hum a few bars. Everyone in that chain is going to take an 85% hit here, not just the artists.

Of course they are getting screwed. But if Pandora were just writing a 5k check direct to the artists, probably wouldn't be having this conversation. But they're not, they're writing 100k (or whatever) checks to the labels per artist and the artists are only getting paid a few percent of that.

It's easier to manipulate emotions by saying "the poor artists, look what they are doing to the poor artists" than it is to take on the 900lb gorilla that controls your (Pink Floyd included) revenue stream and point out that it's the labels making out on both ends.

I'm not against what PF is doing, just pointing out that it's far bigger thing than the way they wrote it.