Support Our Site
Get Better Gear!
- Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Sound Amplified Cradle for iPhone from Kensington, $39.99
- SigFx Energy iPhone Case Contains Smart Battery from SigFx Energy, US$69.95
- NAVIGON AG - True GPS Software for the iPhone from NAVIGON Inc., 89.99
- Tweetie 2 from atebits, $2.99
- Snood: Flawed Casual Play from Electronic Arts, US$3.99
Premier Sponsors
Top 5 Free Apps
iTunes New Music Releases
Top 5 Paid Apps
Discover New Music
- Death Cab for Cutie
With the introduction of Plans, Death Cab for Cutie became a new addition to many user's Artist list after the single "Soul Meets Body" became a hit on iTunes. Offering a fresh alternativ
- World Party
- The Church
Another of my all-time favorites, Priest = Aura is one of those rare albums where every song is simply fantastic, and a testament to how good pop-rock can be.
Each song immediatel
- Phish
- This quasi-concept album (the only of its kind) from these Vermonters finally showcased their ability to convey a message with a studio album, whereas previously they only succeeded in doing so live.
- Brian Eno
- In his first proper solo release since 1996's relatively cold "The Drop," Brian Eno has constructed a whimsical and ecclectic masterpiece which is arguably one of the year's strongest records thus fa
Reader Specials
Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!
News
Pandora Radio on Brink of Collapse
Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 4:00 PM - by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Pandora radio has been very popular on the Web and the Pandora player is very popular on the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch. However, royalty fees, approved by the federal government, may put Pandora out of business soon, according to the Washington Post on Monday.
"We’re approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," said Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora. "This is like a last stand for webcasting."
Rep. Howard Berman (D - Calif.) is trying to broker a last minute deal with SoundExchange, the representative of the RIAA that collects royalty payments. However, Rep. Berman is frustrated, and the two sides are very far apart.
Pandora’s royalty fees amount to 70 percent of its US$25M annual revenue.
"We’re losing money as it is," said Mr. Westergren. "The moment we think this problem in Washington is not going to get solved, we have to pull the plug because all we’re doing is wasting money."
Steve Jobs at one time said that it’s very hard to make money selling music. Apple uses near break-even music sales to support its hardware sales, the iPod. Even so, there has been a seemingly endless succession of companies that insist they can make good money selling only music on the Internet, only to have their business model collapse. Pandora may be about to become yet another one - no thanks to onerous royalty fees that have been imposed.
Recent Headlines
- Apple TV 3.0.1 Update Fixes Missing Content Bug
- Taiwan Leak Shows Verizon UTMS/CDMA iPhone for Q3 2010
- iPhone Moves Into RadioShack
- Dictionary, Dictionary, Dictionary, And More
- The Latest App Store Games: Gravity Sling, RocketBird, Ground Effect, Checkers!
- iPhone Game Developer Sued for Collecting User’s Cell Numbers
- Apple May Be Bringing RFID to the iPhone
Post Your Comments