SATELLITE RADIO FIGHTS LISTENER EROSION DURING MERGER TALKS: The Wall Street Journal reported today (here) that while XM and Sirius continue their now 15-month-long merger process, its become more difficult to attract and retain users while iPods and Internet radio draw away potential customers. Due to the slowdown in auto sales and decrease in travel as gas prices soar, satellite radio in-store sales dropped 35% last year and combined listenership is at 17.9 million (compared to internet radio’s 54 million weekly listeners). Revealed XM chief executive officer Nate Davis, “We believe the market was a little slower in growth than the times when people had a little more disposable income, and we are affected like anybody else.”

OXENFORD’S “WEBCAST ROYALTY BASICS” PRESENTATION AVAILABLE ONLINE: Music-licensing expert David Oxenford (pictured) summed up the basic royalty regulations for streaming music on the internet at this year’s Annual Broadcast Cable Financial Management Conference (BCFM). Any broadcasters or webcasters looking to brush up on their royalty basics can see Oxenford’s PowerPoint presentation (here). For more coverage of Oxenford’s session head to RBR.com here.

ROSENTHAL TO DRIVE ENTERCOM’S DIGITAL PLATFORMS: Joe Rosenthal has been hired by Entercom as Sr. Director/Digital Content. Rosenthal will aid the creation and continued optimization of content on Entercom’s digital platforms. Said Sandy Smallens, Entercom’s SVP/Digital, “A pioneer in the online content space, Joe is an incredible addition for us.” Read Radio Ink’s coverage here.

RADIOVERVE WEBCAST PROMOTES INDIAN MUSIC DISCOVERY: India-based RadioVeRVe streams 7 stations of Indian independent music through a beautiful interface. Divided by genres, RadioVeRVe’s stations include not only the common rock and gospel subsections but also Indian classical and konkani. While songs can not be skipped or rated in playback, the site presents both basic info about the playing song (artist, album, etc) as well as a full-length bio about the artist and links to their website. Additionally, the site features a database of every artist streamed. From a US-listener stand-point, RadioVeRVe makes discovery of Indian music effortless. RadioVeRVE also includes a cleverly designed station-switching “Tuner,” a subtle visualizer, and mobile device compatibility through Mundu Radio.

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