Really sorry to hear that. Very sad. But temporary for sure.

Back to piracy for me!

"the course being charted by the labels and publishers and their representative organizations is nothing short of disastrous for artists whom they purport to represent"

I couldn't agree with you more Tim. The industry will eventually come around, but its a painful transition, and I'm sorry Pandora has to lose fans to endure it.

If someone who is better at words than me could compose a message to PPL explaining the error of their ways, then post it on here in the hope that 1000s of people copy it and email it, I wonder if they'd be forced to see reason? I'm emailing info@ppluk.com anyway, I can only hope...

Dear Pandora,
thankyou for your service, it has been really great to listen to new artists whom I would not have heard of otherwise. I understand that you need to operate ethically. Sometimes we have to go into the dark so that the lights burn brighter. I shall miss listening to my favourite music. Where would the music industry be without listeners? I hope that there is a swift resolution to the UK licensing situation, but I also understand that greed hides behind legistlation and it will be a difficult struggle.

cheers
vince

I only found out about Pandora radion station briefy before you stopped streaming it in the u.k. I admire what you have done and being the type of person who loves finding and listening to new (and often random) mucsic it was a dream website which I could spend hours on. I can only hope that a solution is made in the not too distant future.
Freddie
P.S. Just out of interest about how many people were using it/signed up in the u.k.?
I know that none of friends new about but if they did they would all have loved it to. Would it be possible to link up with someone like Apple's iTunes Store or create your own library from which people can buy song's from, like itunes' Store?

Time and time again, I am amazed on the demands of copyright owners, demanding a "fair" share of pie which does not translate into a sustainable model.

My question, however, is... why are we paying such great homage to these companies? Why not, screw these people and create a direct platform with musicians who are willing and able to let go OR take a fair share. I am sure there are plenty of good quality material around.

Shift the power back to the people and please do not make victims out of us... especially the global loyal Pandora fans!

A Victim

Anyone else seeing this from the UK, I would recommend that to convey yourselves to this petition to Downing Street.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SaveNetRadioUK/

I am not naive enough to suggest that the government will change policy in response to it (given their past record, and the depressing lack of precedent), however any registered opposition is a very good thing as it can give the bodies which oppose the law a proof of popular support.

Very disappointed. I haven't stopped raving about Pandora since I was told about it this year. Hope you return soon.

Pandora is really GREATTTT
I am a international user,i would like to ask a question about globalpandora.
Why it disappears suddenly?

Oh how utterly disastrous!

I have been an avid user, supporter and envoy for Pandora in North Wales, UK for almost 2 years, and it has become a very important part of my working life (keeping me sane at the office!).

To Tim - thankyou very much for letting us know the situation in detail, and you can count on the musical yoof of North Wales to back any intervention you see fit.

Thanks for what has been, and we live in hope for the future xx

What a tragedy! And what short-sightedness on the part of the industry. I listen (or at least, listened) to Pandora almost 24/7, enjoying being introduced to artists I had never heard of and reminded of the familiar ones. My musical horizons have been broadened, my knowledge deepened.

Most importantly, the industry obviously does not realise the degree to which Pandora encourages record buying. Far from being some kind of "rip-off" of artists, it is a vehicle for introducing and promoting them. I have bought more records in the last year than in the previous ten. I hear something I like, look up the background (such an interesting aspect), and, as often as not, buy an album.

Let us hope that the industry wakes up and realises where its real friends are.

I wish you well, and long for re-connection

That's absurd and stupid. How are we supposed to buy new cds or music when we are not allowed to listen music that we haven't purchased yet? What's next? Banning of all the radio stations? In a club each person will have his own headsets and bring his own pre-purchased music? I thought music was supposed to be for fun and entertainment, not for some people to make money... If you don't make money out of it, don't ban it, just leave the music scene, and let people do it, that do it because they like it not because they wanna be rich.
Shame to the music industry.

It just goes to demonstrate the typical US double standard. Willing to fight terrorists but not the RIAA?

Hello!

I`d been litsening to Pandora for quite a while when you stoped streaming musix to europe in general.

It�s a great job you�ve done here! Although it�s to baad you had to close the service down :/

I`m really eagering and hoping that you will once start streaming to europe/sweden again!

January 16, 2008

My experience in the music business started in the mid '60s, there were a lot of well meaning, completely inept people representing artists, allowing the artists to be taken advantage of , steam cleaned and shown the door. In the lats '30s I believe it was Blind Lemon Jefferson which a Chicago record company gave a train ticket to, recorded him for several days and then put him out on the street where he froze to death that night.

Bo Diddly, a personal friend, at 67 years of age was still touring more than 300 gigs a year. he gets absolutely nothing from his hits of the '50s & '60s, but the people that pay tribute to his style and influence have come to Florida to visit and thank him, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, and on and on. Bo is now approaching 91, with the rights to his catalog sold right out from under him in the '60s, the proceeds from his music still go into someone else s pocket, and its legal.

The music industries AR pimps and shysters buy artists agents, whatever it takes to get your share too, an educated, intelligent human being that actually read and comprehended a big label contract would never sign it. I am not surprised at the complete lack of aesthetic content in much of todays music, it is the product of people that are dimwitted enough to take the merciless shafting a big label has arranged for them.

Technology is double edged, it has freed artists from the �bend over, grab your cheeks and say AAHHHHH!� a relatively small investment can now approach if not rival a multi million dollar studio, (excluding mics.) Promotion is why you went to a label, radio play was the medium, now soon to be irrelevant, you handle promo on the net now. The landscape is changing, and are the big guys concerned?

You bet your posterior, their terrified, Pandora and spin off technologies represents a serious threat to the status quo, and the industry has a lot of balls to even infer that their efforts are to �protect the artist� when history proves the opposite out come time after time.

Two Quotes: take your pick, both apply.

The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.
Hunter S. Thompson

The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.
Hunter S. Thompson

Chi-7

hd2b/27b-6/docs/corr/pandora2.odt

It is a shame. You need to figure this out so you can get your ass into England.
Your station is solid but I do see a couple things I would change. Your playlists tend to repeat a bit too much. Also, you should be able to immediately comment on a song.
For example, I was just listening to my station "Poi Dog Pondering" radio and an extremely lame song came on. I really wanted to just blow it up off the screen. If I could have commented on it, I would have said. "This is the lamest freakin' song I have ever heard in my life. How does music like this ever make it onto the airwaves? It not only sucks but it sucks the soul right out of me as soon as I hear it. It blows gigantic puke chunks." But, unfortunately, I did not have that option.
A bit of a vent, but oh, so true...

I have bought several CD's as a direct result of hearing tracks from the artists on Pandora. I have also revisted CD's in my collection that I'd forgotten. Now I can no longer access Pandora, I am unlikely to find out about new music that appeals to me, and will consequently not be making many new purchases.

Just wanted to point out that it's probably not legal to avoid the whole problem by using a US proxy, even though it works very well. Very illegal, you hear me? Don't even try!! Seriously!

I love listening to this type of music.
Is it true it is beneficial for tuning a persons ears? How can I listen to this on Sirus?

Perhaps if you offered a paid premium service, with a higher bitrate, you could even satisfy the demands of the uk associations, usurious or not. Of course, you should offer this in the USA as well. With 256kbps+ streams. Pandora Prime. $35/month.

All this makes me question copyright.
http://questioncopyright.org/faq

I'm so disappointed at the narrow minded Industry view taken in the UK. Mind you, as we now have Hedge Funds trying to run EMI, why am I surprised? Your pioneering and legal attitude is to be commended and I'm grateful to you for the Artists I have been turned on to that I'd never have heard of otherwise. I hope this is a temporary switch off and we can all listen again at some point in the future.

Corporations only respond to stats / numbers. If you want to turn them around to embracing this new avenue of promotion and potential end sale of the music, you need to inundate them with the numbers of new listeners of their music and the new buyers. Stream the music to us and stream the numbers to them... Are you capturing clicked links data which is delineated per artist? Is there a way to add a button that we can click to indicate new exposure? Like an "I love it" or WOW button? ... if you send this data both to the artist and their label, maybe they'll understand how positive new avenues of exposure can be... The artists should definitely have this data so they know more about Pandora's influence - maybe they won't renew with their labels if they knew how many sales are coming from online marketing sources...

Another idea - get the artists more involved - give them a different type of account - their artist account - so that they can enter tour dates or info so that when their band name is shown (during stream), listeners can see that they're going to be or are already on tour and we can buy tickets or learn more .... or other stuff they would want fans (new and old) to know and so that the fans can contact them directly with praise, feedback, etc.... or be directed to their website in a separate window...

And - in their artist profile page that only they can see, display their stats - how many people are listening to them, new fan counts, and sales through the 'buy' button... Maybe if artists had their own special area on Pandora, they could use Pandora as their ultimate marketing tool instead of signing with record companies...

Just read Carl N.'s comment - funny and useful! It would be great to be able to rate the songs on some sort of scale ... maybe with that feedback, the universally rejected ones will be dropped from the streams plus if you do have an artist account area, they could see how they are being rated on a song by song basis. direct feedback just in case the artist wants to know ...

ROYALTY GOUGING IS KILLING ONLINE MUSIC

What a joke, i can honestly say that i have gone out and bought a number of albums from artists after hearing them on Pandora that ordinarily i never would have.

Hope this gets sorted out soon, thanks for the music.

"Big Music" can't help but be frightened of what Pandora represents.

The music business sells CDs. Internet radio represents, in large part, the doorway to the CD-less future.

It's not hard to see why they don't want that to take hold. The music business thinks that it can keep that door closed.

Up and coming artists have an infinitely higher chance of being heard, and their songs purchased, by putting their music up onto internet radio, than by searching out that elusive "recording contract".

With internet radio, there are no gatekeepers, no contracts, no marketing budgets. Only a musical meritocracy.

Pandora has introduced me to so many musicians I'd have never otherwise heard. Once I finally commit to an MP3 player (I'm still trying to figure this who thing out. DRM free vs the iPod, what happens if I want to buy a Mac, etc.), I play to start buying/downloading songs from these artists en masse.

It's too bad the rest of the world can't listen. And I'm nervous they'll shut the US off from new music too :(

Sorry that you have blocked the uk

what a sorry state of affairs I thought we in the uk were your allies.
I thought we stood together we are good enough to stand firm with you in times of trouble but not good enough to share your music.
I thought the web was world wide.

Pandora was great. It helped me discover new music, which I would then go out and buy, earning the record labels more money.

Now I won't be able to discover as many new bands and will have to take advice from Amazon Lists and download the music as I might not like it simply from a recommendation of one person.

Pandora was doing wonders for the music industry, which seems to see the end-user as an enemy rather than the very people it should be trying to appease.

I want to thank Pandora for being such a great service and helping me discover more music to enrich my life with. You will be sorely missed.

Thanks again,
Jake

Thanks to all at Pandora for the months of quality new music I've been enjoying. I've got to hear several new artists that I'd not have otherwise stumbled across, and duly trotted off to pick up their albums.

I've done as TE suggested with their provided link, and signed the UK petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SaveNetRadioUK/

Here's hoping legislation catches up with the 21st century.

It's like losing a good friend.

I've listened to pandora.com since it started in the UK every single workday.

Am going to miss it, my stations, new music and will now go quietly insane!

What's more I bought hundreds of dollars worth of new music via Pandora.

Don't they want to sell any music online?

I can't help but think this is something where the BBC could be in a position to move on this; personalised radio stations to work in partnership with the MGP/Pandora. It's a logical extension of their remit and proactive and forward thinking.

Thanks for such a great service until this dreadful day.
It reminds me of the closedown of the UK pirate radio stations in the 1960's. One door closed..... and now we eventually have commercial radio - not that it is all good!!
The artist 2002 I "discovered" solely on PANDORA. Bought a cd. Now, every time I listen, I will be reminded of what PANDORA meant to me.
This is not just a personal loss, but a loss of enlightenment to everyone!
PANDORA may be sleeping - I await a triumphant return to the UK.

THANK YOU.
Robin, Lincolnshire, England.

How sad for us in the UK, I have personally bought many CD's by linking to artists I had never heard before, via the site routed through to Amazon. Once again a sad reflection on the short sighted Music Industry.

Sorry to be so blunt, but I'm amazed that you folks at Pandora.com still don't seem to have gotten your act together.

Can you explain, in layman's terms, what makes your sober situation so special compared to your busy and thriving competition (in particular, last.fm)?

Ever since you shut your service down to non-US customers in 2007, I've become a happy (and paying) last.fm user. And I discovered that they offer just about everything you do, only better. The big difference: they actually know how to operate GLOBALLY under the same conditions you are exposed to, and you do not.

Sad for you, but others are making big money right now, while you are not.

You can't blame Pandora for this.

From the beginning we've been told that it could only support US residents.
But they where kind enough to leave it open for us while they fought for the rights. Unfortunately it seams that battle has come to a close, if only for a while.

I have been listening to Pandora for about 2 years now, and think it's one of the best sites on the web & would even be willing to pay for the service.

Are you able to sort something out in Ireland? The message from the record labels seems to be that the easiest, highest-quality music is available by piracy.

As an avid user of Pandora since I bought my Sonos system last year I can, like others above, say that I have bought many a cd after listening to the music.
My personal taste is Country & Western which is virtually unkown in the UK, so Pandora opened a whole new world of artists for me.
Al I can say is, Tim you are doing a grand job and as soon as you can get Pandora back on-line here in the UK I will be one of your first subscribers.

Thanks for all the comments, folks. Wanted to quickly respond to a few points.

Mike: It's NOT the RIAA in the US that is driving this. It's the PPL and MCPS in the UK. The RIAA has no legal standing in the UK. (though we're fighting them here).

Freddie: Can't say exactly, but the UK listenership is probably in the low hundreds of thousands... or rather 'was'...

Kristina: Wonderful comments. And believe me we fully intent to provide the kinds of features you describe for artists - including fan information and ways to connect and help take advantage of the discovery happening on Pandora. We want to create a musician's middle class.

Michael: We can't speak for other services like lastfm. What we know is that these numbers just don't work for an ad-supported service (and that comes from real experience). We can't sign up for a money losing proposition, with no viable business on the horizon.

I'll keep watching the comments...

Thx. Tim (Founder)

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how Pandora figures out we are not in the US? Is it by IP Address? If everyone used a proxy server with a US IP address...

Globalization shouldn't apply only when it's convenient for maximizing profits of large corporations. So many are shafted by globalization, it would be nice if we were able to listen to nice music along the way.

It is incredible how blind the music industry still is - after years of all kind of music revolutions in the internet. You sell them their products and they stop you! Crazy, isn't it. Especially here in Europe Pandora is promoting American artists you would never listening to, likely all your life. Personal statement: I've bought 50 to 100 CD's per year (online, with your links) after listening to new artists via Pandora, some of them imported directly from the US, as they are not sold here.
Before I had stopped buying (and listening) completely for a few years as radios were so boring. Internet radios changed this a bit, but hardly made me buy music. The real break through for me was your station feature - it is so great for discovering new artists you'll probably like.
Pandora is the best I've seen for music up to now, and you're getting better and better. Go on like this. Thanks for the years I could use it here in Europe!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the music industry would wake up and recognize that traditional radio is as dead as Music Television... the Internet is the future of music distribution but I guess the people calling the shots are all just too damned old, jaded and greedy to see it.

The ammount of CD's I have gone and bought because of Pandora. It has introduced me to so much new music! Well, the music industry can cut off its nose to spite its face for all I care now.

This is a disaster! I just discovered Pandora not 15 Minutes ago and I am already hooked! I have already discovered several new artists. It boggles my mind that somebody would ban something as wonderful as this! Traditional radio IS dead!!! This IS the wave of the future! I have already heard several old favorites as well as several new favorites. I am telling EVERYBODY that I know about this. We WILL prevail!!!!

Why can last.fm and yahoo music and other operate outside of the US and you guys can't? Why can't you get the same license they do?

In response to Happy Last.fm Customer, I'm not about to go and hand over money to a website I don't yet trust. However, if Pandora opened subscriptions, I'd happily pay. PPL want to charge Pandora 0.0773 pence per track (According to http://www.ppluk.com/). To the individual, that's less than mere pocket money, but to Pandora, playing 100's of tracks at any one time, it's unworkable. BUT... if a charge of 1p per track was forwarded to customers, I don't think anyone would complain about that.

This is an endemic problem in corporate management, not just in the music industry. It reflects a fear based and myopic emphasis on near term profits at the expense of long term development and sustainability. Unfortunately, the destruction of a fan-base and the hurdles erected in front of new talent are far easier than their correction. I feel a bit like the Lorax here, but it is difficult to know how down the pike we will be before the industry figures just how much damage they are doing to themselves.

The PPL have posted a "Response to Pandora's Decision to Close Service in the UK" - see http://www.ppluk.com/ppl/ppl_cd.nsf/News20080109?openpage. If you want to tell them what you think, there is a 'Contacts' page at http://www.ppluk.com/.

The MCPS response is here: http://www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/about_us/press/latestpressreleases/mcpsprsalliance/Pages/ResponsetoPandorastatement.aspx. If you want to tell them what you think, make a comment here: http://www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/contact_us/pages/default.aspx.

You always tell us that Pandora is for discovering new music but you still try to work with the major labels.

Why not tag the music of small and nice bands looking for new customers and fans with "free music is like free speech" and make them available for all people around the world?

So if someone likes the music of Madonna for example let them only listen to some artists which have similar sound but don't have a contract with one of the major labels.

The Uk has proven difficult on a number of fronts. For example, if you try to stream Classic FM they will block it if you cannot produce a UK zip code. However, if you can find a UK zip code from a friend, it will come through without problems.

Hello,

This is indeed very very sad. I have discovered so much new music thanks to Pandora. I hope you open up to the UK again soon.

Good luck!

Just to echo what others have said - absolutely gutted.

I've bought the entire back catalogue of several artists after hearing them on Pandora... artists I wouldn't have heard about otherwise. It's a real shame that it's come to an end for those of us in the UK.

Greetings!

I totally agree, this wonderful service should be available everywhere, music only serves to improve peoples' lives and everyone should have equal access. It is unbelievable that there would be any problem with that, after all, freedom of choice is a cornerstone of all Democracies, no??
I remember the same sort of thing back in the eighties in the Satellite TV industry that would not allow full access to Canadian (Anik 1 &2 sattelites)to receivers in USA. Keep fighting for your rights, friends, America will always be there in your corner! Besten, davos

Wow, what a differece a year makes. I used to listen to Pandora quite a bit. It introduced me to a lot of new music that I purchased through emusic before Pandora was setup with iTunes and Amazon. Recently, I downloaded a few mp3 albums from Amazon after looking back on my favorite Pandora tracks.

Now I'm listening to my stations again and am astounded by the lack of variety. I keep hearing the same big label bands over and over. I'm still getting introduced to new music but there's a definite difference in content. So sad.

This is still the best site I've found so I'll continue to listen and hope for a day when Pandora is allowed to reach closer to its potential.

Would it be outrageous to try and run some statistics, a poll or something whereby people could communicate that they have made purchases based on listening to Pandora? It might help to have some data to back up the long-range value of such an endeavor....??

I'll just add myself to the numbers:

Since listening to Pandora, I now buy CD's and purchase music online whereas I had virtually stopped keeping up with the music scene for many years. Radios too boring, sickeningly tired of radio commercials, can't just stand in record shops waiting for a headphone, can't afford to purchase something I don't love.

Incredibly grateful to be exposed to music I might never have heard of (or buy!).

This has opened me back up to music. Thank you. Sorry for short sightedness of these policies being fought internationally.

Seems like "globalization" is in effect only when it's suits the big guy. The force is too strong, I don't think they can keep these kinds of innovations down too long. Power to the people!

NOOOOOO!!!

A small part of my life has been STOLEN from me! I wish you every success in a breakthrough, and will be cheering you on every step of the way.

By the way, I don't know about anyone else but I would even love a meta-Pandora to be made available - which tells you the tracks that Pandora would play if the UK record industry had a clue. I would also pay more than the current Pandora subscription if this is what would bridge the Atlantic for you.

This is craziness. Pure unadulterated craziness on the part of the UK and the music industry. I won't go into a rant and take up space, because everything, frankly was nailed spot on by your blog.

Thank you for trying and working.

Keep it up, please.

I've discovered so many new artists and small young bands and bought their music because of you.

Thank you.

I think your totally awesome. Pandora being banned in UK has to be some Satanic Terrorist move by the government...at least that's what I call it. Music is the best thing, always there to make things better, when u got nothing else...u still have something totally awesome music. I don't get how it could be banned but I hope people fight to get it back. What if you get an email and say you live in the U.S. Will it work if you do that? I am Christian and don't know if that would be wrong or not...but banning music is wrong...for sure. Hang in there and pray about it is the best solution and let God fix it. And thanks Pandora for all you do...Hugs, Jennifer

Hi guys,

Give a try to www.musicovery.com

It's not as good as Pandora, but it a good replacement for the time being.

There's also www.last.fm but...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!;(((((

If the internet has feelings today i think it will be crying.

I've been using pandora for 3 years i cant believe this. I hope you get things sorted out with these monsters asap, good luck to you guys. <3

I am saddened that the music industry has taken this step resulting in the closure of Pandora in the UK. Through Pandora I was introduced to some fantastic new artists and the music of some established bands that I had never had the opportunity to hear. I even managed to spend a small fortune with Amazon and HMV after exposure to some great bands. Now I'll find most of my new music through copies recommended by friends. How will this situation discourage piracy and improve the fortunes of an ailing music industry?

Why just you don't allow individual artists to give permission to you to play their music. You could have a plan of payment you define and allow them to sign up.

You would not cover all artists, but at least people would have access to independent artists, and maybe this would force other copy right holders to negotiate with you.

Hey guys, just heard the news... damn, this sucks. This is a step backward for the music industry, IMHO.

oh , and i just saw this link on my RSS feed...

I'm a little confused, but I guess these people are using a pay per song strategy???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7205147.stm

Jenny, I just heard about this news and it makes me feel very uneasy.

For those not up to date, last.fm has just opened their music database to allow any song to be played in full on demand. This is fundamentally what Pandora was not able to do viably in the UK, except without the restriction of not exactly what you ask for first time (or the superior selection technique).

I cannot help but connect the dots and see some rather unpleasant causes of this situation. It really looks like an anti-competitive move from the record industry, pushing Pandora out to favour last.fm, perhaps because last.fm have accumulated the capital to sway the affections of the record companies.

If this is true, it really sucks. I have no interest in listening to tracks one by one. If I want to know what something sounds like, a 30 second preview is enough for me to decide whether to buy it. Now that I have been spoiled by Pandora, last.fm just doesn't provide an adequate quality of selection for me to listen to one of their continuous station. Bring back Pandora! :(

I think this is an odd decision because I have been buying CD's as a result of listening to Pandora for myself and as presents. I guess it is back to money and book tokens for presents until Pandora is back on line over here.

I'm also shocked as all of you, just 2 weeks ago I re-discovered Pandora and spent all my weekend listening to tons of new music, discovered unknown artists and am the owner of their music now. I have to say, compliments to the invention of the Pandora project, it was an excellent idea!! Originally I discovered the link in one of my magazines (what a lucky chance!), tried it out, and loved it immediately. However, I got very busy with work and finally forgot about it until 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately the happy time was very short now, since the music is now blocked in UK. But I'm glad I re-discovered it just the weekend before. I feel so much richer in music now!

These regulations are stupidity, I agree totally with your opinions. I hope the licensing issue can be solved some day, but I'm sure it might take a while.

Intermediate I can share another of my experiences: CD Baby (cdbaby.com).
I bought many CDs from this "independent" shop because they also group all their new music into categories and you can listen to all the songs before bying the album.Through all the links ("if you like this you might like this...") provided by the webpage, and easy and free listening to almost all songs (and longer as on iTunes) you might discover new artists, songs and albums - and maybe you'll like them so much that you just must buy the CDs as I did, once I ended up purchasing 10 CDs. Also mp3 downloads are possible. I used to live in the US, I don't know if it's a problem to order from the UK - I just moved here and haven't tried it yet.

CD Baby mainly supports unknown artists, and gives them the opportunity to be heard by listeners like us. Therefore you most often can not find this music in typical download or shared folders. Every band is described and their music characterized. However, it's a great opportunity to experience new unknown music! Hope you enjoy.

I think it is a terrible shame that this wonderful creation is basically banned from me (in Belgium) and many other disappointed music lovers outside the US. When I discovered Pandora it was like a revelation! Never in my life had I been exposed to so much music that wasn't forced down my throat by commercial radio stations. Not that no good music can come from conventional radio, but this is so much better.

It is a foolish thing to do from the industry's point of view. With Pandora they could reach millions of people and gain numerous new fans for one of their artists. What is so wrong about that?

I will keep watching this space, as I just cannot accept or imagine never to be able to listen to Pandora ever again...

Thanks to Pandora I have heard artists that I would have never heard of before. My two favorite artists right now, Seether and Godsmack, I would have never heard if it wasn't for this site.

Although I live in the USA I feel bad for those living in the UK. Pandora is a great site. The founders are not corrupt like some of their competition and have the right ideas in mind. The music industry is either not aware of this, or, what is most likely the case, is too concieted to see past their own views.

I wish to see Pandora continue to survive and manage to spread their site globally.

Before reading this post, I was sure that the RIAA (Recording Industry Assoc. of America) and FCC (Federal Communications Commission) would be the downfall of the music industry. Now I realize that this is a global problem, involving many record labels clinging to outdated economic models. I am sincerely sorry that our European brothers and sisters are now limited by corrupt and closed-minded record labels and government entities. With the rise of XM radio stations in the US, I fear the worst for Pandora in the long run. This problem must be remedied soon, as I fear the US may follow suit and eventually pursue like-minded profit [dis]oriented regulations. This is indeed a sad day for musicians and artists that have the drive to produce globally recognized and appreciated music.

It is quite difficult not to be aware of the money grubbing nature of the recording companies and the companies who own the rights to music. In many cases, the royalties paid for certain music..especially when that music is of a certain age..are not being paid to the actual artists who performed or the song writers or to any of their rightful beneficiaries. It is all collect by people who own "rights". Too many of the reasons why this is so involve slick practise which was barely legal and certainly not ethical.
Having said that, it is shameful the laws anywhere will permit such or protect those who benefit from it. Corporate greed is a disease which has infected the music business to its detriment. I knew this was coming because of talk on regulating internet music even more than previously.
It is sad, indeed, that it would interfere with a service like Pandora. It is not at all a good thing. I truly hope some day the situation will change. This is so unfair.

As someone else mentioned, PPL want 0.0773 pence per song streamed. This works out at like 1293 songs/1 GBP.

Couldn't we simply have a subscription model where we pay 1 GBP for 1000 songs (or even many less). I'm confused as to where the problem really lies.

It's a real shame, I found (and subsequently bought) some great music which I would never have come across without Pandora.

Just to let you know:

We arrived in Mexico, I started up Pandora, and got the "blocked" message -- you detected the server was in Mexico. I hope that when I return to the USA, I will not find that I am blocked permanently. I'm sure you have thought of this already, but I mention it just in case...

my partner introduce me to pandora and its great i even listend to it a work. i even had a fake zip code i made up but now not chance. its a shame as i found lots of great songs which i can no longer access. will miss it.

Just tried to log on to Pandora for the 1st time this year, only to find a message telling me that it was blocked in the UK! It's a real shame that it's come to this, I found so many different artists that I would never have thought to even look for without Pandora.

It's sad for artists and listeners alike that an artists work can't be distributed in such a unique way as Pandora and the music genome project has achieved, and especially now; this is an unprecedented age of information availability, and for such a ruling to come now over something so inherently diverse, personal and inspirational as music, shows an ignorance which is inherent in society today.

It is obvious that this decision will make no difference to music piracy or illegal music distribution, and I dare say will even encourage it. There are many who believe that money is more important than growth and evolution.

Nevertheless, I will wait until someone sees sense and realizes the universal value that music, uncensored, holds for the development and growth of humanity as a whole. It is such petty divisions between countries, borders and people that will continue to separate us unless we choose differently.

I would like to thank everyone who has made Pandora possible, I enjoyed it very much when it was available. I can only hope that you will make a breakthrough with the "powers" that be, and it will not only be available here in the UK soon, but all over the world, for the benefit of all.

I'm sorry to hear this... I remember when it happened to my country (The Netherlands) back in the day, and I was very pained by it... I never stopped being a Pandora fan, though, and still regularly check to see if there's any hope of it becoming available for me again someday :)

Good luck!

This is in deed a huge loss not only to the UK, but globally.

Pandora was THE music source of choice in my previous workplace, providing an endless stream of music we wanted to hear and discover.

I have just looked back through my Amazon music purchases and can see at least 100 CDs ordered after hearing a previously unknown artist on pandora. None of them would have my money now if it was not for pandora.

Would it be possible to allow a limited service within the UK where artists not signed to one of the large players could opt-in for UK airtime??

I share the same sentiments as the above mentioned.
Pandora not only helped to make a day at the office more cheerful, but like so many have said, it enabled us all to easily discover new and diverse material based on our own tastes.

As a musician myself, It pains me to confess that I now find myself giving $0.20 cents per track to Russian mp3 websites that I am sure do not forward any royalties to artists!
The Russian websites are not restricted to hosting only music from major labels.

From experience I can tell you that the bottom line is simple: The big record companies are NOT interested in new music. They are only interested in THEIR OWN new music.

As far as I know, Itunes will happily sell the music of any band or artist, regardless of being signed to any or no label. But at the same time who's music do you get rammed down your throat at the front page of the Itunes store? Not "unsigned bob and his super banjo band" thats for sure.

I think the person above that mentioned a Pandora just for unsigned or indie artists is on the right track. It could be a way forward....

It is a great shame to see Pandora close to pretty much anywhere bar the US. I hope this can be resolved, a few queries:

1. There must be more people can do such as the kind of action in the US. That can be done here in the UK if its organized and promoted, why isn't it? There's a petition which is a start, which isn't mentioned or promoted hardly at all.

2. Why is it Last FM are managing to play full tracks on there site now to places like the UK, but Pandora is not. I'm sorry if I'm a little naive but it seems there must be a way for Pandora to somehow follow suite, at least to some extent?

This is rooted.

@ Joy - I don't know how many different tracks Pandora plays ona daily basis. For each station that Pandora has it plays different tracks. I will stick with one station.
One station would take seven weeks to play the 1000 songs (at 5 minutes each). Based on this Pandora would have to pay 1 GBP every seven weeks. This works out to ~7.43 GBP per year. Now multiply that by each station, If there are 1000 stations that equates to 7000 GBP every seven weeks and just over 52000 GBP per year. It gets worse as the stations increase, since they have to pay this fee every time they play a song. This means if they play song A at 1300 on station one, and again play song A at 1301 on station two, that is .007 GBP times two. This gets real expensive real quick.

I don't know how lastfm is doing it. Perhaps they are not only charging for memberships, they are also selling advertisements, or even receiving subsidies from the music labels. No idea, only that they have worked out something that allows them to continue to stream music while Pandora couldn't afford it.

how about some oldies please

Hi Tim - it's such a shame that your foresightedness isn't matched by the dinosuars that represent UK music publishing. It was such a joy to listen to Pandora and discover new music. In 2006-07 I bought more new CDs from more new artists than any years previously (I have over 2000 CDs in my collection). Since Pandora was blocked to the UK, discovering the new music that I like (and would buy) is now much harder. The Execs running the companies that represent the music industry should be ashamed of themselves - how can they justify to their artists and shareholders that keeping their published materialsa secret from the listening world is in their own commercial interests? Astounding! Maybe they'll just have to learn the hard way that you just can stop the tidal wave of technological change - the best way forward is to learn to ride the wave! Long after these backward looking publishers have gone bust, forward thinking new companies like Pandora will win the day. Best of Luck, John.

Oh No! I'm sad to hear this has happened in the UK now, I rememember how sad I was when it happened to us in Australia last year. I still miss pandora, and also still keep checking for updates that maybe one day soon my radio stations will be back on the air... but now that seems further away than ever :(