Recording artists with modest to poor record sales now have a new revenue stream thanks to Internet radio service, Pandora.
Pandora Media, Inc CEO Tim Westergren released a statement Tuesday acknowledging that it pays superstar rappers Lil Wayne and Drake over $3 million in royalties for streaming their music online.
Drake’s friend, Bad Boy artist French Montana (pictured above left with Drake), will receive a check for $138,567 from Pandora for his hit track “Pop That,” featuring Lil Wayne, Drake and Rick Ross.
Pandora Media, Inc, which operates Pandora Internet radio, is raking in millions of dollars in advertising revenue annually. And the service is enriching artists who normally don’t get radio spins.
“For over two thousand artists Pandora will pay over $10,000 dollars each over the next 12 months,” said Westergren on Pandora’s blog, “And for more than 800 [artists] we’ll pay over $50,000 — more than the income of the average American household. For top earners like Coldplay, Adele, Wiz Khalifa, Jason Aldean and others Pandora is already paying over $1 million each.”
That’s great news for underground artists who wouldn’t normally receive a royalty check for radio play.
“These are all working artists who live well outside the mainstream–no steady rotation on broadcast radio, no high profile opening slots on major tours, no front page placement in online retail,” said Westergren.
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