Pink Floyd Rants Against Pandora, 'Dark Side of The Moon' Band Accuses Service of Deceiving Musicians

Pink Floyd has always held out against the onslaught of music streaming and internet radio services, and the band addressed its ire at Pandora in a USA Today editorial on Tuesday. 

The progressive rock group (represented by three surviving members Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason), best known for singles like "The Wall" and "Wish You Were Here," accused the music service of trying to deceive musicians into supporting lower royalties for use of their music. Pandora is currently looking for artists to sign a letter of support for internet radio services such as itself, but Floyd says the letter doesn't tell those same artists about the huge royalty cuts that would come in tow. 

"Fine print is one thing," the trio writes. "But a musician could read this 'letter of support' a dozen times and hold it up to a funhouse mirror for good measure without realizing she was signing a call to cut her own royalties to pad Pandora's bottom line."

Pandora is pushing Congress to cut the amount musicians receive for internet radio play by up to 85 percent. The band complained that Pandora itself is hardly paying to make a profit, having increased its IPO by $235 million and doubled its amount of listeners in two years. The op-ed ends with Floyd hoping that the two sides (radio services and artists) could come together to form a happier relationship.

Pandora tried to get the movement passed in Congress during 2012 as well, but artists including Pink Floyd, Billy Joel and Rihanna, along with more than 120 other musicians signed a letter opposing the move. 

Pink Floyd has eased up on its anti-streaming stance recently however. The band promised fans that if its song "Wish You Were Here" was streamed a million times on Spotify, the group would make its back catalog available on the service. Floyd made good on the promise.