The Pandora settlement had been considered likely after the Sirius settlement, but it still means “people can exhale,” said Future of Music CEO Casey Rae. “Having tensions between the U.S.’ biggest webcaster and the music community on this issue isn’t productive.” The Pandora settlement covers only past performances of pre-1972 recordings, but it gives Pandora until the end of 2016 to reach licensing agreements with the labels. Pandora, like Sirius, appears to have decided to settle based entirely on a “cost-benefit” analysis of the legal landscape that showed they were likely to face similar lawsuits across the country, said Dina LaPolt of LaPolt Law, an IP and entertainment law firm. read more