RIAA...working hard to kill music...

I went to Pandora today and got the below message. It seems like a lot of big entrenched American industries are failing to grasp hold of the ever-changing world around them. Much like the auto-industry, entertainment as a medium is changing dramatically. People are starting to flock to different choices and starting to ask about cost. There's a lot of dangerous old-school companies trying to derail the free-market growth of the internet. Television and music execs need to embrace these mediums and figure out reasonable rates or be doomed to the downside of product elasticity. People will pay only so much for a product...even a good product.

This is evident in Nintendo's re-emergence in the console wars. Sony & Microsoft have really incredible machines, but the Wii is innovative AND so much more cost effective.

A Day of Silence
Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,

I'm sorry to say that today Pandora, along with most Internet radio sites, is going off the air in observance of a Day Of Silence. We are doing this to bring to your attention a disastrous turn of events that threatens the existence of Pandora and all of internet radio. We need your help.

Ignoring all rationality and responding only to the lobbying of the RIAA, an arbitration committee in Washington DC has drastically increased the licensing fees Internet radio sites must pay to stream songs. Pandora's fees will triple, and are retroactive for eighteen months! Left unchanged by Congress, every day will be like today as internet radio sites start shutting down and the music dies.

A bill called the "Internet Radio Equality Act" has already been introduced in both the Senate (S. 1353) and House of Representatives (H.R. 2060) to fix the problem and save Internet radio--and Pandora--from obliteration.

I'd like to ask you to call your Congressional representatives today and ask them to become co-sponsors of the bill. It will only take a few minutes and you can find your Congresspersons and their phone numbers by entering your zip code here.

Your opinion matters to your representatives - so please take just a minute to call.

Visit www.savenetradio.org to continue following the fight to Save Internet Radio.

As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support.