ProductionNinja.com

It looks like thanks to SoundExchange, I may soon have to find a new source for background music while I’m working, Pandora the free music site may soon be calling it quits:

Pandora — practically the poster child for online radio — says it will shut down if royalty rates enacted in March of 2007 are not altered soon.

“We’re losing money as it is,” founder Tim Westergren’s told The Washington Post. “The moment we think this problem in Washington is not going to get solved, we have to pull the plug because all we’re doing is wasting money,” adding, “We’re funded by venture capital. They’re not going to chase a company whose business model has been broken. So if it doesn’t feel like its headed towards a solution, we’re done.”

Westergren agreed to a hasty interview on Monday but was unavailable to talk due to a family engagement. However, a Pandora spokeswoman said the company has been paying the new royalty fees to SoundExchange since July 2007 and that there’s no specific day on which Pandora will go offline, assuming the rates are not changed. “It’s an ongoing judgment call based on the trajectory of the negotiations,” she said.

I’ll say this, I’m not someone who illegally downloads music… and that’s not because I have any moral problem with doing it, I just never needed to. If Pandora is gone I’m a lot more likely to start scanning Limewire for new music, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.