> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.hypebot.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# If Pandora Can Write Lil Wayne A $3 Million Check, Why Should They Pay Less? [Commentary]
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/pandora-says-top-artists-make-1m-a-year-2000-make-more-than-10000/
- Published: 2012-10-10T14:00:33.000Z
- Updated: 2012-10-10T14:00:33.000Z
- Description: Pandora founder Tim Westergren says they'll pay 2000 artists over $10,000 dollars each over the next 12 months with 800 making $50,000 or more. Top earners like Coldplay, Adele, Wiz. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/10/pandora-says-top-artists-make-1m-a-year-2000-make-more-than
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: Streaming, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:49

[![image from www.google.com](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e2017c3270aa89970b-150wi "image from www.google.com")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e2017c3270aa89970b-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

Pandora founder Tim Westergren says they'll pay 2000 artists over $10,000 dollars each over the next 12 months with 800 making $50,000 or more. Top earners like Coldplay, Adele, Wiz Khalifa, Jason Aldean are getting $1 million check; and Drake and Lil Wayne's earning are "fast approaching" $3 million a year each. The disclosures come at a time when Pandora is lobbying hard to reduce streaming rates.

**ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY:**  

  
Telling the world that you're paying many artists fat stacks may seem an unusual strategy when advocating for lower royalty rates, but Pandora is a very uprofitable company. Much of the reason for the loss, according to both Westergren and most outside analysts is that by federal statue, they pay about 50% of all revenue as royalties. That's a rate much larger than over-the-air broadcasters pay.

Those that want to vilify[ Pandora](http://blog.pandora.com/pandora/archives/2012/10/pandora-and-art.html?ref=hypebot.com), often wrongly place it on the same category as non-demand music streamers Spotify. A much more accurate comparison is to an FM radio with an infinite dial. You can't hear a particular song when you're craving it, but you can probably find a station that fits your overall taste and mood.

There is also real evidence that Pandora drives legal download sales. According the NPD Music Acquisition Monitor study: "Overall music purchasing was down in the last year, while the average Pandora listener purchased 29% more music during the second quarter of 2012 compared with last year. Additionally, Pandora listeners' music acquisition came increasingly from legal purchases, while non-listeners showed a decline.

Consumer's have spoken. Pandora now accounts for just 6.5% of radio listening in the U.S. The music industry has two choices:

1) take Pandora's money until the well runs dry

2) work with them to help them grow.