Pandora (and other internet radio) to stay afloat…for now

For a while it was starting to look rather iffy as to whether or not Pandora, as well as internet radio in general, was going to be able to continue, or die a sad death. The cost of keeping it afloat was simply getting too high in the face of the streaming rates for Internet radio. But now, artists, record labels and webcasters have finally come to an agreement, according to Pandora’s Tom Conrad.

“Pandora is finally on safe ground with a long-term agreement for survivable royalty rates,” Conrad says.

So, what does this long-term agreement consist of? SoundExchange agrees to a 40-50% reduction in the per-song-per-listener rate, or Pandora giving up a 25% share of its US revenue, whichever is higher. The new agreement runs through 2015.