Interesting article on Satellite Radio (XM vs. Sirius)

[Rim]

If you are already familiar with satellite radio and the argument that it will be the death of radio, skip to halfway down the article where it talks about the differences between XM and Sirirus (the paragraph starting with "For musicheads"):

 

Satellite radio has created a new frontier for music lovers

 

May 01, 2005 (The Miami Herald - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) --

 

Knight-Ridder Tribune Business

 

 

Janie "could just dance to that rock 'n' roll station" in the Velvet Underground's Rock & Roll. Modern Lovers' Roadrunner drove past the Stop & Shop "with the radio on." Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio?, The Ramones asked.

 

Remember, indeed. For at least a decade, and arguably for three, music and radio have been antonyms in most parts of the United States. If you love music, really love music, the AM and FM dials are the last places you go to hear it. There are too many commercials, too few songs; those songs get played over and over until they morph into viruses. The narrowing of playlists and consolidation of station ownership were two of the main causes for the decline of the music industry this century. Radio wasn't creating and nurturing music fans; it was killing them off.

 

Then along came satellite.

 

Satellite radio has created a new frontier for music listening. Along with Internet radio and the iPod, the format is helping turn the moribund record industry around by creating new, diverse outlets for, and thereby stimulating, musical production. Along with Internet companies like myspace.com and friendster, satellite radio is solidifying the new cultural and consumer paradigm of social networking, wherein communities are defined not by geographic centers but by tastes and interests.

 

At a given moment on XM Radio's 152 channels (67 of them music), you could hear, say, an old-school hip-hop jam by Toronto's Dream Warriors, LCD Soundsystem's current delirious dance-rock hit Daft Punk Is Playing at My House, George Strait's first single, or Queen Latifah.

 

On Sirius's 120 channels (65 music), guest programmer Joan Jett might play the Ramones and the Donnas on Underground Garage, or you can mellow out to Little Louie Vega on Chill or remember home with some Celia Cruz on Tropical. Or 24/7, you can hear the King on the exclusive Sirius channel, Elvis Radio.

 

In fact, if you can't find something you like on the two satellite radio networks, maybe you're not a music lover after all.

 

And it's doing this all with no commercials. No annoying announcers trying to sell you something you don't need or want. Just lots of music, a little bit of talk, then more music.

 

"Records should be a mass broadcast medium, but they needn't necessarily be," Elvis Costello said in a recent interview. "As we know there are new systems coming up all the time that are going to go completely around the record shop and the radio station. The radio station doesn't exist anymore because you have satellite radio."

 

I've spent a couple months driving around with XM in my car, then listening to Sirius at home. I've rediscovered old friends (Newcleus) and made some new ones (Madeleine Peyroux). This is radio that provides the thrill of the now, like top 40 once did; that provides a dedicated, high-quality audio experience, as FM used to; that challenges with the new, as college radio can, when it's not trying too hard to be difficult.

 

Sure it costs: $12.95 a month. That's a price I'm willing to pay to never hear a fast-food jingle again (I try not to watch TV).

 

Satellite radio is to terrestrial radio as cable TV is to broadcast. Plus, no commercials.

 

XM and Sirius beam their programming from satellites. You need a special antenna for your home or car (both antennaes are small). Making sure the home antenna is properly placed for decent reception and wiring the car antenna through your auto's body are the most difficult parts of setting the systems up. Both companies offer inexpensive devices that connect directly to existing home and car stereos; XM also offers a device you can carry with you and a boombox. The duopoly are in hot competition to land deals with carmakers to have their equipment factory-loaded into new vehicles.

 

For musicheads, XM is the superior product. The company's choices are more unorthodox, its musical knowledge deep. Even the channel names show XM's folks are out-of-the-box creative thinkers, not literal-minded strategists with expanded playlists. XM calls their alternative rock stations Lucy, Fred and Ethel (hee-hee); Sirius calls theirs First Wave, Left of Center and Alt Nation (yawn).

 

"A lot of channels come to fruition when we're sitting around a room with a lot of white boards and four to five 12-packs of Dr Pepper, a bunch of Snickers and cake," says XM's executive vice president of programming, Eric Logan. "We get a big sugar rush and go, 'What's not been done before?'

 

"The overall philosophy for our music presentation is about exposing and discovery and the celebration of music. That really is the most important part of what we do."

 

Where XM lets the music be its muse, Sirius turns to personalities. Extreme sports stars host shows on the rap and rock Faction; hip-hop legends Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and DJ Kool Herc have gigs on the four hip-hop channels. Eminem has his own channel; E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt has two. And of course next year, Howard Stern will join the Sirius gang.

 

"The majority of our music channels are hosted by air personalities all day long who present this music to you in a way that drives passion," says Steve Blatter, senior vice president of music programming for Sirius. "It's not just a music jukebox. It's a full package."

 

Like the click-cliques of Friendster, the downside of satellite's niche programming is it creates orthodoxy; you can get stuck in one channel, one taste group. "There are basic listener behavior problems," Logan admits.

 

Whereas channel to channel, XM is more adventurous, some specific Sirius channels take genre-mix risks that challenge listener complacency. Faction juggles rap and rock; Underground Garage mixes vintage and contemporary acts.

 

"Because we're commercial free, we don't have to cater to an advertising base," Blatter says. "All we are concerned about is providing our subscribers with a supremely satisfying music-listening experience. Many alternative stations are concerned if they play hip-hop that advertisers would abandon them, because hip-hop tends to skew the stations to an audience younger than local advertisers are willing to spend money on. Because we're totally commercial free, our music channels can be far more innovative."

 

For years, radio programmers have defended their musical choices as dictated by the needs of advertisers. Satellite radio is all about satisfying the consumer. Logan says XM loses only 1 percent of their subscribers a year, a startlingly high measure of customer satisfaction. Both formats are adding subscribers at rates that make the medium one of the fastest-growing technologies ever. XM has more than 3.77 million subscribers, Sirius 1.24 million.

 

Satellite radio is also undermining the hegemony of a music industry that had been overtaken by a "hits" mentality.

 

"We're taking some of these smaller, lesser known musical entities or niches and exposing them on a national level," Logan says. "This has started a musical revolution. . . . When you have a national platform and you're able to showcase channels devoted purely to love songs, or music from [a specific decade], . . . it really becomes an opportunity to celebrate the music. Our playlists are deep and broad by design so that our subscribers can experience something they've never experienced before."

 

And that's good news for music.

 

"If you look at the records that don't make the big numbers and aggregate them, it's a bigger market than the few things that become hits," says David Prince, founder of the Miami Music and Multimedia summit. "The way the music industry is going, being true to yourself as an artist, working with music you really like that goes to specialized audiences, is going to become an asset and not something to be overcome. It goes hand in hand with social networking. It's about finding like-minded communities that are based around music. That now can happen on an international level -- it doesn't matter where you are physically. It's uncharted territory."

 

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[the stranger]

Thanks!

[BLAblablah]

XM Radio saved my life! (actually the sig line of a poster in another forum, but applies very much to me as well)

Barry

[Bbach1]

Wouldn't be without my Sirius Satellite radio. I travel across this great nation of ours and I couldn't imagine having to hunt for a decent station in your town or (gasp) not getting any station at all! (If you don't think that happens try driving through Montana). Being a huge NFL fan who is often driving on game day, nothing beats Sirius. I get all the games in home or away broadcasts. Fantastic! Viva Le Satellite!

[E-money]

It's funny, reading the article, I can't understand why XM is beating Sirius.

XM calls their alternative rock stations Lucy, Fred and Ethel (hee-hee); Sirius calls theirs First Wave, Left of Center and Alt Nation (yawn).

So what the hell do Lucy, Fred and Ethel play? At least Sirius' stations are somewhat descriptive.

 

Sirius has the NFL (yeah), XM has MLB (yawn)

Sirius has Stern.

 

I think it's only a matter of time before the tide turns.

 

Either way, it is nice to have an option.

[TheSoundman]

Thanks for the article Rim. Hopefully the writer (and existing subscribers to either service) won't be too disapointed when commercials start appearing on the service. (CEO's from both providers have released statements "hinting" at this eventuality)

 

Even with commercials, I think satellite radio will carve out a huge niche. With hundreds of channels, people can find and listen to better music programs. With a National audience, they should be able to garner more revenue per commercial, hence the ability to play fewer of them, less often. Traditional terrestrial radio is not looking at a change of tide- It's standing square in the path of a Tsunami!

 

And thanks to E-Money for his post. Even with 100+ channels on each service, people are going to prefer one over the other. If you hate Howard Stern and love MLB, you will probably subscribe to XM. I think the writer of the article was stating a personal opinion.

[BLAblablah]

Originally posted by E-money:

" "So what the hell do Lucy, Fred and Ethel play? At least Sirius' stations are somewhat descriptive. So what the hell do Lucy, Fred and Ethel play? At least Sirius' stations are somewhat descriptive. Sirius has the NFL (yeah), XM has MLB (yawn) Sirius has Stern.

I think it's only a matter of time before the tide turns.

Either way, it is nice to have an option."

 

While I love my XM (it came factory installed with my vehicle... free for first year), I'm sure I would be happy with Sirius too. Anything is better than Clear Channel, Infinity, etc.

While I don't give a poop about sports, as said "Viva Le Satellite!"

Barry

[Anderton]

The question is how long either one will go before someone demographics-oriented nut case starts diluting that which made satellite radio great in the first place. It happened to AM, it happened to FM...

[songrytr]

Originally posted by E-money:

Sirius has Stern.

January 2006, baby!!

 

Unfiltered by the FCC....for now...

[daddyelmis]

Originally posted by Anderton:

The question is how long either one will go before someone demographics-oriented nut case starts diluting that which made satellite radio great in the first place. It happened to AM, it happened to FM...

The difference being, though, advertisers paying the freight vs. subscribers. No doubt there will be some dilution as there has been on cable tv. But HBO still offers the most intriguing and cutting edge series TV (Deadwood, Sopranos, 6 Feet Under, etc.) that you would never, ever see on network (even with FCC-approved lanaguage and violence).

 

My problem, and the one that has kept me from pulling the trigger on sat. radio (and iPod-esque players), is that when I take that plunge, I want that music source available to me everywhere (car, office, home, etc.) without a tangle of cables and adapters, and without paying hundreds for hardware and then subscription fees. I don't think HBO/cable/sat tv ever charged for its receiver -- they were after the subscription.

[Archer]

Originally posted by Anderton:

The question is how long either one will go before someone demographics-oriented nut case starts diluting that which made satellite radio great in the first place. It happened to AM, it happened to FM...

I believe that as long as the two don't merge we still have hope. compitition will be our friend. XM dropped their commercials on the music channels to continue competing with Sirius (IMO).

[Bbach1]

Originally posted by Anderton:

The question is how long either one will go before someone demographics-oriented nut case starts diluting that which made satellite radio great in the first place. It happened to AM, it happened to FM...

You raise an interesting point Craig, and frankly, I think it could happen. I think if it does, it will happen in small increments. Wholesale change would be disasterous, but we would put up with small changes at a time until satellite radio just isn't what it should be. Right now though, I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

[henrysb3]

Last month, I rented a car (Grand Prix) to go to Colorado and vacation with my best friend. It was a GM that came with XM. I loved it. Fred was cool, as were the era channels (50's, 60's, etc.), at least for a while. I also listened to the political commentary, Amerileft and Ameriright, several shades of jazz, blues, you name it. It sure made the hop across western Kansas and eastern Colorado more pleasurable.

 

There also was Ask! with the likes of Dr. Dean Edell on health, a lawyer answering calls about legal issues and various other experts on finance and daily life. We spent a lot of time in that car and only lost signal in long tunnels and deep canyons. I figure there must be some sort of memory buffer at work there.

 

I've had DirecTv for over eight years and I can see sat radio taking a big step up in the near future.

 

Henry

[Slowly]

I wanna see On-Demand in those formats. Go to their website, compile your list of songs by title and artist, burn your list to cd and only hear those songs. Kcbass