Recently, Pandora announced new requirements for artists to get added to their radio streaming and recommendation service. One of the new requirements was that artists would need to sell their physical CDs through the Amazon Advantage Program, which costs $29.95. This means artists, like myself, who don’t currently have any physical CDs would not be allowed into the Pandora system. Bruce Hougton’s blog, Hypebot, posted the news and a poll to gauge what his readers thought about this development. 55.7% of the responders had a negative reaction, so Bruce sent a letter to Pandora asking for a response. Pandora’s CEO, Tim Westergren, posted a response to Bruce, but several of us weren’t quite satisfied with his response and left comments asking for further explanation.
I was happily surprised to check the post later and find a personal response from Tim answering my concerns directly. How many times do you get an answer directly from a well-known company’s CEO? Kudos to Pandora for having a CEO that cares enough to have a conversation with artists.
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