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In case you haven't been following this story, this is great news for all of those streaming music sites, like Pandora and Last.fm:

Internet radio companies reached a 10-year music-royalty agreement with copyright holders, resolving a fight that threatened the industry.

Music sites such as Pandora Media Inc. will pay a per-song royalty or 25 percent of U.S. revenue, whichever is greater, for music they stream, according to SoundExchange, the nonprofit group representing music labels, copyright holders and artists. The agreement is retroactive to 2006 and runs through 2015, the Washington-based organization said today in a statement.

The parties have been seeking an accord since 2007, when a government agency set rates that Web music companies said would put them out of business. Uncertainty of what Internet radio broadcasters would ultimately pay stifled industry development, said Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

"This is what we've been waiting for," Pandora founder Tim Westergren said today in an interview. "It's going to allow us to survive for a long time."

Good news for online streaming!

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