From Billboard:

“This rate is a clear defeat for songwriters,” Sony/ATV Music CEO Martin Bandier says. “This rate is woefully inadequate and further emphasizes the need for reform in the rate court proceedings. Songwriters can’t live in a world where streaming services only pay 1.85% of their revenue. This is a loss, and not something we can live with.”

Also:

Instead of giving ASCAP, the American Society of Composers and the rate increases it asked for the last three years, the court went with the rate Pandora has been paying for the last few years. In a statement, ASCAP noted that while the Judge Cote did not fully adopt the escalating rate structure that ASCAP sought, she also rejected Pandora’s argument that it should get the 1.7% rate that the Radio Music Licensing Committee has negotiated for terrestrial radio’s digital webcasts.

In the past, when music came from the radio or in some physical form, radio represented exposure and revenue came from the sale of records, CDs, etc. In a modern streaming universe, radio and records have been replaced by streaming and DRM-protected music services. Being able to create music directly and get it on iTunes without a major-label in the middle is a real boon to music creators.

The real question is, do the streaming services provide the same level of service to the creators than the radio stations they are replacing. For this entire ecosystem to work, there needs to be balance. At the very foundation, the talent needs to make enough money to be able to afford to continue to make music. A knotty problem.