Internet radio services are becoming increasingly popular

The rapid expansion of mobile devices is helping the music provided through the Internet radio services.  It doesn’t cost a dime to access music content available on the Internet through mobile unit or your PC.  Pandora Media, SiriusXM, Spotify and Apple are competing to provide you with Internet radio service.  It is estimated that there are more than 250 million in the U.S. that listen to radio in the car or at work or home.

Even though it doesn’t cost you any money to listen to music on your Pc or mobile devices such as smartphones, providers pays hefty royalties to artists and record labels.  Take Pandora Media for example, it pays more than half of its sales revenue in royalties to more than 100,000 artists and record labels.  Pandora Media claims more than 74 percent of the U.S. online radio market.  Satellite radio services pay 7.5 percent of their revenue while cable pays 15 percent.  Most of these services generate income from advertisements.  Some charge an annual fee to listen to premium artists, commercial-free.  The U.S. Congress is considering the Internet Radio Fairness Act at this time to address uneven payments and other things related to royalties.  Royalties are set by the Copyright Royalty Board in the U.S.