Pandora CFO comments on repairing the relationship with the music industry

Pandora CFO comments on repairing the relationship with the music industry


Pandora has been working towards reconnecting with key stakeholders in the music industry for the past few months. The first indicator was the deal made with the independent music global rights agency Merlin and the second the appointment of Jason Feinberg - previously VP of Digital Strategy at Epitaph Records - as its Head of Artist Marketing.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal this week Pandora’s CFO Mike Herring speaks openly about the company’s responsibility to change its relationship with musicians and record labels and turn them into partners.

He decided to shift the discussion around licensing from the legal department to the financial department, in order to make music copyright holders feel like their businesses are gaining value over time.

Herring also decided to start building personal relationships within the music industry in order to show artists and their management the kind of data that Pandora is able to gather and build a relationship based on trust from there.

He details the issue of transparency as the toughest one especially when dealing with artists, since they don’t really know where the money goes or - when it comes in - where it comes from. Again, Herring believes that giving artists transparent information is key to ultimately gaining their trust.

When asked about the biggest remaining challenge, Herring acknowledges that Pandora still hasn’t found the right balance between a fair compensation for copyright holder and the right economics for distributors and that it may be some time yet before that balance is achieved.

This interview, just like the Merlin deal and Feinberg’s appointment, shows that Pandora is now aware that it needs to stop burning bridges with artists and needs to work out how to work with the music industry.

At the same time, the company is unlikely to relent on its campaign to lower the royalty rates that it needs to pay - a constant source of acrimony with rights holders.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the tension between these two aspects, that need to progress in parallel but are very much in antithesis, can shape Pandora’s relationship with the music industry going forward.


(Andrea Leonelli)