Bloomberg interviewed Manatt's Robert Jacobs, co-chair of the firm's Entertainment and Media Litigation practice, for an article on how the Copyright Royalty Board's new rate ruling affects digital music service provider Pandora.
Bloomberg reports that Pandora's music fee goes up 21 percent next year, following the CRB's royalty rates ruling. Shares rose about 18 percent in after-hours trading in relief that the fee was much lower than expected. Although the rate is higher than Pandora's current costs, it is still lower than what the music industry had proposed. Pandora must now rewire its business model by striking song-licensing deals directly with music industry participants
Jacobs said that the two sides have "been enemies or at least unhappy partners for so long, now you're going to do business together. How is this going to work?"
Read the article here.