pandora radipandora radio sign ino station,pandora bracelets charmspandora app downloadfree pandownload pandora radiodora music.The Federal Communications Commission on Monday gave Pandora Media permission to buy a small radio station in South Dakota, bringing to an end one of the companys more contorted fights with the music industry.
In June 2013, when Pandora, an Internet radio service, reached a $600,000 deal to buy KXMZ-FM in Rapid City, S.D., the company said that owning a terrestrial station would give it access to industry deals for cheaper songwriting royalties. Pandora, which competes with radio stations for listeners and advertising, has long complained that it pays much more in total royalties than radio stations do.
Music industry groups quickly objected to the proposed deal, however, calling Pandoras move a stunt. Ascap, one of the major music licensing agencies, asked the F.C.C. to block the transaction, citing federal laws that prevent companies from acquiring broadcast licenses if more than 25 percent of their shares are owned by foreigners. Pandora, which has been publicly traded since 2011, argued that it had no way of knowing who owned its stock.
In its ruling on Monday, the F.C.C. rejected Ascaps opposition and said that it would serve the public interest to permit a widely dispersed group of shareholders to own shares in Pandora. The F.C.C. still needs to formally approve the sale.
The fight over KXMZ was just one area in which Pandora has clashed with the music industry over royalty rates.
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Continue reading the main storyLast year, it prevailed in a federal lawsuit with Ascap over songwriting rates, and it is awaiting the judges ruling in a similar case against BMI, another large licensing group. Pandora is also cing off against recorded-music groups before the Copyright Royalty Board, a panel of federal judges.
Pandora has 79 million regular users and last year had $921 million in revenue.
In a statement on Monday, Pandora said the deal for KXMZ makes sense to us beyond the licensing parity alone, adding that it would apply its data on music listening habits to Rapid City, where over 42,000 residents already use Pandora. According to Nielsen, the Rapid City market includes 114,000 people age 12 and over.
One of the strongest statements about the dispute came from Ajit Pai, one of the five commissioners of the F.C.C.
In a statement that accompanied the commissions decision, Mr. Pai said that foreign entities could own majority stakes in cable operators, wireless carriers, Internet backbone providers and other major media companies.
Yet the commission has tied itself (and Pandora) in knots trying to determine whether foreign interests own more than 25 percent of Pandora stock, Mr. Pai said, and if so, whether Pandora should be able to own a single FM station in a small South Dakota town.
This is absurd, he added.
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