Judge Leaves Pandora Songwriter Royalty Unchanged

That’s according to ASCAP _ the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers _ which collects royalties for some 500,000 artists and publishers in the U.S.

ASCAP said Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court in New York made the ruling Friday. Court filings show her order and opinion was filed under seal.

ASCAP Chief Executive John LoFrumento said in a statement that the market rate for Internet radio is substantially higher than 1.85 percent and said the ruling demonstrates the need for regulatory reform. ASCAP cited several separate deals as benchmarks, including one between music publishers and Apple Inc. for its iTunes Radio service, as examples.

It had sought a retroactive rate increase to 2.5 percent for 2013 and a boost to 3 percent in 2014 and 2015. Pandora argued it should be given a rate cut so that it would pay the same as traditional radio stations at 1.7 percent. It even bought a radio station in South Dakota last June to qualify for the lower rate.

Pandora Media Inc. declined to comment until the ruling is publicly released, which could occur next week.

Pandora has been paying 1.85 percent of revenue to ASCAP since 2011 on an interim basis.

The rate is set in court because of a decades-old agreement between music publishers and the government that was meant to constrain monopolistic behavior.

But recently, music publishers have argued that the rate is too low and doesn’t reflect the explosive popularity of Internet radio, nor allow them to share fairly in its success.

Last week, Pandora said it streamed 1.51 billion hours of music to its listeners in February, up 9 percent from a year earlier. Its share of U.S. radio listening rose to 8.91 percent, up from 8.25 percent a year earlier, and it had 75.3 million active listeners.

Pandora shares dipped 13 cents in after-hours trading Friday after closing up 72 cents, or 2.1 percent, at $35.44.

Associated Press