I read a very important piece of news yesterday in Billboard. SoundExchange, the company designated to collect streaming royalties from internet sites, has reached an agreement with internet radio broadcasters that paves the way for them to actually begin receiving monies and distributing them.
In 2007, the Copyright Royalty Tribunal decided that the per-stream rates be set at $.0011 for 2007, $.0014 for 2008, $.0018 for 2009 and $.0019 for 2010. The agreement lowers the rates significantly (nearly 50%) and is retroactive back to 2006.
If companies are making enough money (more than 1.25 million/year) they can pay a flat rate of 25% of their gross revenues, with a $25,000 minimum payment.