Pandora Founder Tim Westergren Gets Pwned by Blake Morgan

Tim Westergren, Founder of Pandora has apparently been trying to get indie musicians to drink the Pandora Kool Aid. My good friend and ECR Music Group CEO, Blake Morgan (pictured) , received Tim’s “personal” email to join up. True to form, Blake saw right through the smokey haze of Westergren’s bullshit and called him on it. His response back to Tim was so on the money, I had to repost the whole conversation here.

On May 1, 2013, at 1:15 AM, Tim Westergren wrote:

Dear Blake,

I hope you don’t mind this unsolicited email. I realize Ed on our team has already tried reaching out, but I thought I’d give it one last shot.

Hopefully you received the earlier email along with the attached artist deck that gives a preview of the product direction we’re considering at Pandora to help working musicians build their audiences.

Over this past month we’ve had over a 1000 conversations with independent musicians on Pandora. It’s been a very productive, and encouraging dialogue. One thing is crystal clear, there are large numbers of musicians who have not been part of the mainstream that have the talent and commitment to break through. And internet radio could be the difference.

We received a ton of feedback on the artist deck, and ideas for the future. We’re consolidating all that feedback and will be circulating a summary shortly. The input will most definitely impact the direction of our product development. Our goal is to make something truly useful – not just interesting or cosmetic.  Something that can materially impact the ability of artists to make a living. So stay tuned for that.

The letter of support which we also included in our earlier email has also taken on a life of its own. We’re approaching 500 signatures! As we suspected, there is a huge appetite among working musicians to be heard, and to begin participating in shaping the future of the music industry.  The response has been so enthusiastic that we have decided to expand the campaign more broadly. If you’re curious to learn more, or think you’d like to somehow participate, we’d welcome you.  We really think there’s an opportunity here to change the course of the industry in a direction that will be far more inclusive and empowering for independent musicians.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Tim

Tim Westergren

Founder, Pandora

To which, Blake responded:

To: Tim Westergren <tim@pandora.com>
Cc: Ed Rivadavia <erivadavia@pandora.com>

Subject: Re: Pandora

Hi Tim,

I have to be blunt and honest in my reply.

I like Pandora, and have supported it. However, this approach and idea that Pandora is intimately interested in the success of independent artists rings quite hollow––especially from a policy standpoint––when it’s put next to the reality of the so-called Internet Radio Fairness Act.

I was terribly disappointed to find your company working hand in hand with someone as unscrupulous as the reality-deprived representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) on this bill. This is a congressman who aside from voting against economic stimulus packages and voting NO on banking regulations, also denies evolution (I’m not kidding) and global climate change, while insisting that President Obama is not an American citizen. Certainly not the sharpest––or most reasonable––tack in the box.

Representatives Watt and Conyers have gone so far as to re-name this bill humorously as the Paycheck Reduction Act.

The AFL-CIO, NAACP, Americans for Tax Reform, the American Conservative Union, SoundExchange, and others all oppose this bill, and the supposition that Pandora should pay less to artists and songwriters in order to accomplish higher profitability.

So again, Tim, I support Pandora and would like to believe that you and your company have artists’ best interests at heart. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to stomach this idea based on policy, and reality.

best,
B