Pandora is a great Internet radio service. Its founder revealed today that it will start to block IP addresses outside of the US starting this week. Launched as a US-only service, anyone who wanted to listen to Pandora could do so by providing a valid US Zip code. But Pandora is now reacting to pressure from the record labels and implementing tougher screening measures. Pandora sent emails to affected users earlier this week.
“It’s devastating for us to have to do that,” Pandora founder Tim Westergren told The Register. “We’re terribly disappointed and frustrated, but the existing law right now is such that we can’t legally,” stream to most users outside the US.
Pandora will continue to pursue negotiations to secure the necessary licenses to stream music to other countries (Deals for Canada and the UK are apparently close).
This is a disappointing move (especially given that I’m in Canada) but in line with the short-sighted strategies that the record industry has demonstrated in response to the move to digital media.