Pandora is closing the jukebox for the global market

BBC News reports that the popular recommendation based, online radio station Pandora is being forced to shut out all non US listeners. They are forced to close the jukebox to non US listeners due to lisens restrains.

Yet again the music industry shows that they have no understanding of the internet. There is indeed a market outside the US! Why can they not see that the internet opens for a global market? Closing the jukebox to non US listeners does nothing more than push even more music fans over to non-legal alternates! (Such as filesharing.)

The Pandora website writes:

We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for most listeners located outside of the U.S. We will continue to work diligently to realize the vision of a truly global Pandora, but for the time being we are required to restrict its use. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative.

I hope Last.fm will be able to fight of the lawyer's of the RIAA.

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5 comments

Sad news indeed! I've been using Pandora for a long time now, as was the only one I could log on at work. Looks like I've got to bring some CDs to work to have something to listen to …

Comment by Kent Vegard Evjen at 2007-05-07 @249.

Remember that the "Music Industry" is not a single unit.

Anyways, this is sad. I didn't use Pandora much, mostly because it didn't find any alternatives to the music I wanted to listen to.

Comment by Magnus Damli at 2007-05-07 @255.

In the US "the music industry" is indeed a single unit! The RIAA can collect payment for artist that does not even have a contract with them! They manage music on an entirely different level than the Norwegian TONO/NCB.

Kent, there is no need to bring CDs. Get yourself a neat 2 B USB-stick for about 300 NOK!

Comment by Daniel Aleksandersen at 2007-05-07 @895.

To Kent,

At my job office I use http://www.globalpandora.com just fine.

all the best,

Adolfo

Comment by Adolfo at 2008-01-10 @548.

Adolfo;

I will check it out as soon as I get to work!
Thanks!

Comment by Kent Vegard Evjen at 2008-01-10 @850.