Pandora ‘Needs’ Lower Royalty Rates, But Will Pay Execs $122 Million In Stock This Year
Pandora has used both lawsuits and the court of public opinion to seek ever-lower payments from musicians, songwriters and rights holders. Their latest offensive - this time vs. BMI and its 650,000 members – began in a New York courtroom just yesterday. Pandora's argument is basically: 'We're creating value for musicians and labels, but we won't be able to do that if we continue to lose money." It's easy to be sympathetic to that reasoning, until you learn the company plans to pay executives $122 million in stock compensation this year.
In 2014, a money losing Pandora paid its top executives $87.1 million in stock-based compensation, according to SeekingAlpha. In 2015, a still money losing Pandora says it will pay another $25 million in stock to execs on top of their hefty salaries in Q1; and a total of $122 million in stock-based compensation this year.
"No wonder their stock is collapsing," writes music industry pundit David Lowery. "It sure looks like the executives are vampires sucking the company dry. While pleading poverty to the BMI rate court judge and public."
Pandora is a radio station. As a layperson, I don’t see why they should pay higher royalty rates than any other radio station, simply because they do a superior and more personalized job of pitching music to the listener.