This is certainly an indicator of strong growth for internet radio and streaming services. Music royalties agency SoundExchange announced Tuesday that it ended the year collecting $292 million in royalty payments, up 17% from 2010. These royalties are paid by internet, satellite and cable TV music-only services for the right to play sound recordings, and […]
In last week’s post about iHeartRadio I focused much of my criticism on the sound quality of the service, or lack thereof. Since the debut of the compact disc in the 1980s digital has become nearly synonymous with good sound in the world of audio, but this is not always necessarily the case. When listeners […]
Talk is heating up on Wall Street that satellite radio purveyor SiriusXM might be on the verge of a sale. Most of the talk centers on Liberty Media, headed up by chairman and early player in cable television John Malone, which turns over media properties pretty regularly, and currently owns the QVC shopping network, Starz […]
Earlier this year SiriusXM announced the minority oriented broadcasters who would receive full-time audio channels as a result of deal made with the FCC in order to get its 2008 merger approved. One of the broadcasters, Howard University, is ready to go on the air beginning Dec. 1. Howard owns and operates one of the […]
OK, I know this is just a shameless marketing blitz for the new Muppet Movie. But as a child of the 70s and 80s, the Muppets are a treasured memory. I’m certain that I wore out my LP of the original Muppet Movie soundtrack, and the Muppet Show first exposed me to the likes of […]
Sirius XM has announced a new music channel: Studio 54 Radio, described as a 24/7 commercial free tribute to the legendary club of the disco era. "The channel will air music that comes from the vaults and special record collections of insiders, much of which has never been heard since the club’s doors shut," the […]
Catch up on stories you might have missed from the past week in radio. Dirty Money Talk radio’s biggest names are paid millions of dollars to “use a script, outline or set of talking points,” according to a new report. The Heritage Foundation pays roughly $2m for Rush Limbaugh and $1.3 for Sean Hannity. Glenn […]
At long last Sirius XM has allocated four percent of its full-time audio channels to various “qualified entity” minority oriented broadcasters. Howard University is among the winners, something I’d hoped would happen. Howard runs WHUR-FM (see YouTube clip to the right). The four percent allocation was part of the deal that Sirius XM made with […]
This week Bloomberg reported that Microsoft will introduce no new versions of its
The great war between Sirius satellite radio (SIRI) and the Wireless Communications System Coalition has taken another interesting turn as the Federal Communications Commission ponders whether to lift the price caps the FCC imposed on Sirius as a condition for its merger with XM in 2008. The WCS Coalition—backed by Comcast (CMCSA), Nextwave (WAVE), and […]
