Pandora says has paid $500 million in artist royalties in past year

(Reuters) – Internet radio service Pandora Media Inc said it paid nearly $500 million in artist royalties over the past 12 months, bringing the total to more than $1.5 billion in about 10 years. “It took us nearly nine years to generate the first billion dollars in royalties, and just over a year to increase that total by 50 percent,” Chief Executive Brian McAndrews said in a statement on Wednesday. Pandora gets revenue from advertising and paid subscriptions

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Pandora to appeal court ruling that gives BMI higher royalties

(Reuters) – Internet radio service Pandora Media Inc said it will appeal a rate court ruling that could force the company to pay higher royalties to Broadcast Music Inc (BMI) for music licenses. BMI said on Thursday the New York Rate Court ruled in its favor and agreed that the royalty rate of 2.5 percent of revenue was “reasonable, and indeed at the low end of the range of fees of recent licenses.” Pandora said in an emailed statement the ruling could increase its content costs as a percentage of revenue by 80 basis points. The latest court decision comes close on the heels of a court ruling in favor of Pandora last week, rejecting an effort by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) to charge Pandora more to license its music from 2013 to 2015.

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