However, as of this morning, the Copyright Office has still not yet publicly released the opinion. The decision bolsters Pandora’s business model of which royalty fees comprise about 50%.

Pandora Media Inc. shares rose $1.07, or 5.4 percent, to $20.77 in afternoon trading Monday. Through Friday, the shares were up 10 per cent this year. Internet radio has urged a lower rate as it struggles to be profitable. Content costs represented 46 per cent of the revenue in the second quarter. It’s also been battling record labels and other rights holders over how much it pays to play music. To be fair, keep in mind Pandora has previously stated that even if the CRB issues a negative ruling, Pandora still has the option of pursuing more direct deals with labels similar to its agreement with Merlin.

Furthermore, “We define a best case scenario as a CBR OMR rate that is 16 micro pennies or lower, we define a worse Case Scenario as a CRB OMR rate at 25 micro pennies ore greater”. SoundExchange had argued the judges shouldn’t take into account the Merlin deal.

So while it’s hard to blame the market for bidding Pandora stock up on today’s affirmation of its stance, it seems Pandora has already ensured it will come out on top no matter what the CRB says later this year. “We look forward to the certainty that December’s decision will bring”.

Thomas Claps, an analyst at Susquehanna, called this new development “a significant, positive catalyst for Pandora”, in a note.

Out of the 31 analysts polled by TipRanks, 21 rate Pandora Media Inc stock a Buy, 9 rate the stock a Hold and 1 recommends Sell.