On the heels of terrestrial radio trying to legislate itself onto your iPod we now have Pandora, a web radio company, trying to work itself into your new car.

Via LA Times

Tim Westergren founder of Pandora:

“Simply put, half of radio listening happens in the car. People spend 20 hours a week listening to music; 17 hours of that is from radio. About half of that radio listening, or 8.5 hours, occurs while they’re in a car. So that’s the Holy Grail.

We’re actively developing software products with car manufacturers and after-market stereo companies such as Pioneer and others. We’re already working with Ford, Mercedes and other companies that we can’t talk about now. Our goal is to be in every new car that rolls off the manufacturing line.

Web radio isn’t hurting the business. It’s helping.

Think about it this way. For years, broadcast radio collected billions of dollars in advertising. Almost none of it went to the labels, and a small amount of it goes to composers.

Every hour that goes from broadcast radio to Internet radio means more money for artists. That’s because Internet radio, unlike broadcast, pays performance royalties. Last year, we made $50 million in revenue, and $30 million of that went to artist royalties. As listeners shift toward Web radio, there will be money for artists that didn’t exist before.”

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