Pandora paid nearly $500 million to musicians in music royalties in the past year.
The news comes as the Internet audio service is negotiating with the Copyright Royalty Board for a lower streaming royalty rate.
Pandora Chair/CEO Brian McAndrews said it took the company nearly 9 years to generate the first billion dollars in royalties, “and just over a year to increase that total by 50%.”
The Internet audio company’s joint revenue streams from ad-supported and paying subscribers helped make that goal, according to McAndrews, enabling the company to monetize its advertising.
The company says in total, it’s distributed nearly $1.5B in royalties to artists over the company’s lifetime.
