Some Artists Reportedly Earn Up to $3 Million per Year from Pandora

By David Tobia
October 15, 2012

A report from Pandora says the Internet radio service will pay more than 2,000 artists over $10,000 during the next year. More than 800 artists will earn more than $50,000 — and very popular artists like Lil Wayne and Drake will earn about $3 million.
Pandora founder Tim Westergren claims Pandora accounts for 6.53 percent of radio listening in the U.S. He argues that if this number were higher, artists would receive much more money from royalties.
He also says his fight to lower royalty fees is not anti-artist, but rather an argument for Pandora to invest more in its development. This would allow Pandora to offer a better product and gain more customers. So although royalties would be lower, the scale would help to ultimately pay artists more.
When asked about Spotify’s impact on Pandora, Westergren remained defiant: “The only thing that’s worrying me is the royalty situation in Washington.”
According to recently published statistics, Spotify’s “revenue grew 151 percent to $244.5 million from 2010 to 2011, [yet] its net losses went up 60 percent to roughly $59 million,” reports TechCrunch.

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