Roger Waters joined forces with his former Pink Floyd bandmates this week to speak out against Internet radio provider Pandora for the company's attempts to slash the royalty rates it pays musicians when its subscribers listen to their music.  Waters co-wrote an op-ed piece in USA Today with David Gilmour and Nick Mason, chastising Pandora for its lobbying efforts to revive the Internet Radio Fairness Act, a bill that would reduce the royalty rates artists are paid for digital play of their songs by 85 percent.  The bill was introduced last year in the House of Representatives, but never made it to a vote, dying in a committee.

In the USA Today piece, Waters & company admitted that they would be able to absorb the loss if the Internet Radio Fairness Act were passed, but said that most musicians are not in the same position.  Nearly 90% of the artists who get a check for digital play receive less than $5,000 a year, they noted.  They cannot afford the 85 percent pay cut Pandora asked Congress to impose on the music community.   The part that upsets the trio the most, according to the story, is that Pandora has sent letters to musicians asking them to support the proposed bill without making it vlear that it would reduce the royalties they receive for their music.  Fine print is one thing, the piece read, but a musician could read this 'letter of support' a dozen times and hold it up to a funhouse mirror for good measure without realizing she was signing a call to cut her own royalties to pad Pandoras bottom line.