By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal appeals court in Manhattan rejected appeals by a music licensing group and music publishers that could have forced Internet radio service Pandora Media Inc to pay higher royalties and have access to fewer songs. In a case closely watched in the music industry, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected an effort by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers to charge Pandora more to license its music from 2013 to 2015. It also said rules governing ASCAP licensing "unambiguously" barred music publishers from negotiating higher rates for their works with "new media" users such as Pandora, even as ASCAP licensed the same works to other users. Vivendi SA's Universal Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and EMI Music Publishing had withdrawn their new media licensing rights from ASCAP, while retaining membership in that group.

Source: Yahoo Music
Link: Pandora defeats ASCAP, music publishers in royalties appeal