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Some clarification might be in order:
1. The term "midlist" has nothing to do with this issue. Midlist means books that aren't bestsellers, books that sell in more modest numbers. Probably what you meant was "backlist," which is books that came out a while ago, but are still available.
2. As far as I know, we don't actually know that Amazon has agreed to the agency model, just that they're agreeing to Macmillan's terms. Macmillan's offer was agency model or continue the same terms, with ebooks delayed some months after hardcover.
3. If the settlement means the agency model, then according to pronouncements, there should be no increase in prices for backlist titles--those currently selling for $6-8. The higher prices should only apply to new titles just out in hardcover. The real question is whether they'll correct all the books out there whose prices never got lowered when they should have.
4. Everyone talks about 50% of "list price," but it's never been clear that "list price" for an ebook meant the same price as hardcover price.
5. If Amazon goes to the agency model, they'll probably make more per book. But lose some market leverage. The author (by my calculations) will probably get less. The publisher more. Per book sale, that is. Sales may drop.
I'm not a big fan of the agency model. Neither am I a fan of Amazon's Walmart-like model. I don't see many winners here--unless this really does help preserve hardcover sales, which I doubt. But I could be wrong. (I also don't think it's as catastrophic as many have made it out to be for the reading public. It might get publishers to take seriously actually dropping the price of books once they're in paperback, instead of neglecting the whole business, as they often do now.)
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