Pandora has joined a trade group called the Internet Association. The group works on advocacy within many Web-centric topics, such as net neutrality, protecting Internet freedom, developing the Internet economy, privacy, and cybersecurity, but it also lobbies on broader topics such as international trade and law enforcement. The total membership is now 29 with the addition of Pandora; Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix are among the peers in the organization.
Pandora has done its own lobbying for years, with a focus on antitrust, radio station ownership, the FCC, copyright, and music licensing topics. The company even hired congressional staffer Dave Grimaldi last spring to aid its government-facing activities and brought in Steve Bené as a brand new general counsel in October. The choice to team up with a major lobbying powerhouse further indicates how seriously Pandora is taking the legal issues facing both streaming and any Internet business.