Also writing directly to music fans about his dealings with the music business is Pandora founder Tim Westergren, though his problem isn't with the record industry but with the US radio sector.
As much previously reported, there has been much negotiating going on in the US between online music services and the record labels and their online collecting society SoundExchange regarding the royalties both online-only radio stations and more interactive services like Pandora have to pay to music owners.
Westergren reports that negotiations between Pandora, SoundExchange and the Recording Industry Association Of America are now gaining momentum, but they need more time than was originally allowed by the US Congress, who set a deadline for the voluntary resolution of the latest royalty dispute.
Several Congressmen have proposed to give the required extra time but, according to Westergren, the National Association Of Broadcasters, which represents traditional terrestrial radio stations, is lobbying other Congressmen to block that proposal. The Pandora man says the big traditional radio firms see this as an opportunity to halt positive discussions between the web services and the content owners, something they'd like to do because they don't want services like Pandora to get more favourable royalty deals, because, if they do, they'll be better able to compete with the big boys of old school radio.
Westergren emailed his US subscription base on Friday urging them to lobby their local Congress representatives to ensure the proposed postponement of the deadline on the royalty negotiations was approved. He wrote in his email: "The National Association of Broadcasters, which represents radio broadcasters such as Clear Channel, has begun intensively pressuring lawmakers to kill the bill. We have just days to keep this from collapsing. This is a blatant attempt by large radio companies to suffocate the webcasting industry that is just beginning to offer an alternative to their monopoly of the airwaves. Please call your Congressperson right now and ask them to support HR 7084, the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 - and to not capitulate to pressure from the NAB. Congress is currently working extended hours, so even calls this evening and over the weekend should get answered".
As previously reported, Pandora is no longer available in the UK because the service has not yet managed to negotiate a royalty deal with UK content owners.