Hear that? Pandora and artists finally reach sweet harmony

After years of hitting sour notes with artists, Pandora seems to have struck the right chord at last. Pandora unveiled its first hand-in-hand partnership with music creators and distributors through Merlin, a group representing more than 20,000 independent labels worldwide.

Pandora will use its recommendation engine to match Merlin members' musicians to the right listeners and will turn over metadata about that listening directly to artists for the first time, as well as set up customized channels for acts to communicate with fans.

The real music to artists' ears? Merlin CEO Charles Caldas said he expects to see "royalty payments increase significantly."