http://blog.pandora.com/pandora/arch....html#comments
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For top earners like Coldplay, Adele, Wiz Khalifa, Jason Aldean and others Pandora is already paying over $1 million each. Drake and Lil Wayne are fast approaching a $3 million annual rate each.
Rascal Flatts ($670,351), Iron & Wine ($173,152), Bon Iver ($135,223), George Winston ($85,239), Zac Brown Band ($547,064), The Four Tops ($65,173), Ellie Goulding ($609,046), Mumford & Sons ($523,902)...
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http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/indus...07978032.story
Business Matters: The Truth About Pandora's Payments to Artists
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Unfortunately, Pandora's message was easy to misunderstand and occasionally misleading: Take what you thought artists were getting paid and chop off half. The math is below.
Pandora doesn't actually pay artists. It pays SoundExchange, which then gives artists 45% of net royalties. Half of net royalties goes to labels, and a portion may find its way back to artists through its royalty accounting system.
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Quote:
Here's how SoundExchange distributes net royalties: 50% to the owner of the sound recording, 45% to the performing artist and 5% to the session musicians and backup singers. Net royalties are royalties less SoundExchange's administration fee, which was 5.3% in 2011.
If Pandora pays $100,228 (the number cited in Pandora's blog post) over the next 12 months to stream to the music of Donnie McClurkin, only $42,712 will go directly to McClurkin as the performing artist. McClurkin will not receive the share given to the owner of the sound recordings, since he has released albums on Warner Alliance, Verity Records and Zomba Label Group. Those labels will split $52,204. Other musicians and backup singers will receive $4,746.
If the music of Drake, for example, generates performance royalties of almost $3 million annually, as the "Pandora and Artist Payments" post claims, Drake would get $1,278,450 as the performing artist. The label would get $1,562,550. Other musicians get $142,050.
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Still,
45% of the net royalties is a lot better than the typical 12% gross or
8% net royalties artists get from Itunes sales.
Example: $1.29 song on Itunes breakdown
30% to Apple: $0.387
70% to the label and artist and publisher: $0.903
artist get 12% of this $0.093 =
$0.11
anyhow, Pandora makes it sound like Drake is getting $3 million (most people would be misled if they don't know better).
In actual, Billboards points out, Drake would get around 45% of the net royalties, or $1,278,450.
Non-top 40 artists still not even amking enough to keep themselves and their loved ones afloat. 
It's kind of sad really...
