A little more than a month ago. Derek posted on the “I Love Pandora” widget that incited users to help save Pandora from going bankrupt because of the severe and unfair mishandlings of copyright fees

That Widget showed you cared about Pandora with the heart.

Now i am happy to tell you that Pandora and Webcasting (webradio and commercial podcasting) will be able to live to fight another day, another year and hopefully for time to come. all thanks to the webcasting settlement act that was passed by the senate as ZDNet Richard Kooman reports:

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“The Senate passed the Webcaster Settlement Act, described here. The bill goes to President Bush, who is expected to sign it.

“I’m relieved, optimistic, and grateful to our listeners,” said Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora. (News.com)

Even the RIAA was thumbs-up over the legislation:

“This is a welcome and encouraging development and a sign of the constructive working relationship between the music industry and Webcasters,” said Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA’s chairman and CEO. “Together, we want to make this marketplace work for both music fans and music creators.”

The bill gives SoundExchange and webcasters until Feb. 15 to agree on lower royalties than those ordered by the copyright court.”

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That is some good news for everyone. and it is cool that a widget had participated in that as a way to raise awareness.

Pandora

via ZDNET