Pandora music streaming rights threatened by court ruling

Pandora could have some music licensing troubles come January 1st. After a court ruling Wednesday, a number of major music publishers will now be able to broker their own streaming deals with Pandora, rather than having their streaming rights handled in bulk by another company. If one of those big publishers chooses to do so, Pandora will either have to cut a new deal with it or miss out on including popular songs on its radio service.

A federal judge in New York has ruled that Broadcast Music Inc., a performance rights organization, may allow its members to prevent their music from being licensed to Pandora. The Dec. 18 decision means that Pandora may soon lose access to music from publishers like Universal and BMG.