 RAIN 6/3: Sat. radio customers will pay more as royalties increase ·Jun 3, 11:08 AM SIRIUS XM TO PASS ROYALTY HIKES ALONG TO SUBSCRIBERSMost Sirius XM customers will see their bill go up by nearly $2 a month soon, due to an rising royalty rate. The Copyright Royalty Board set increasing percentage-of-revenue royalty rates for satellite radio in 2007. In 2009, the performance royalty rate increased from 6.0% of gross revenue to 6.5% for Sirius XM — by 2012 the rate will increase to 8.0%. SoundExchange originally called for rates roughly equal to 8% to 23% over the rate period.
The costs for the increased royalty rate will be passed along to the consumers. “Unfortunately we can no longer absorb these increased costs,” Sirius XM said in a leaked internal company document. The FCC allowed for Sirius XM to pass along these royalty fees in its decision to permit the previously separate satellite radio companies to merge. As Orbitcast points out, though, “no one is forcing Sirius XM to pass along the fee to consumers, they’re just allowing it.” Check out Orbitcast’s coverage here for detailed information on subscription price increases and to read the leaked internal document. ANDO MEDIA PARTNERS WITH AD COUNCIL TO DELIVER PSAS TO NET RADIOAndo Media has partnered with the Ad Council — a provider of public service announcements (PSAs) — to offer PSAs to Ando’s Internet radio clients. The PSAs will be made available to Ando’s clients starting in July “via a new web portal platform.” The donated airtime and impressions will be tracked by Ando Media’s Webcast Metrics measurement service.NYT: NET RADIO COOKING UP SOME TASTY FOOD PROGRAMSAlong with the feats of cooking up a truly delicious meal, “creating your own Internet radio station now may be the latest merit badge for culinary do-it-yourselfers,” notes New York Times dining author Oliver Schwaner-Albright. One place they can do so is with the Heritage Radio Network, an Internet radio station filled with food-based streaming programs.
The programs range from “Why We Cook,” a very technical cooking show, to “Eat to the Beat,” which integrates music and music discussion. Many of the programs are hosted by chefs or culinary instructors, are done live, and are searchable by tagged keywords (like “compost renaissance”). Find out more by reading The New York Times article here. RADIO CAN OFFER ONLINE “APPS” OF THEIR OWN FOR “MICRO-PAYMENTS,” SUGGESTS DEL COLLIANO“Just because satellite radio’s business model is having a hard time finding profitability doesn’t mean that paid terrestrial radio content can’t be viable,” writes industry pundit Jerry Del Colliano. He proposes paid terrestrial radio in the form of additional online content in exchange for a “micro-payment,” similar to Apple’s App Store offerings for the iPhone.
“Custom streams and podcasts,” separate from the free over-the-air station, can be developed and sold for a “micro-payment,” he suggests. For example, a smooth jazz stream for $1.99 a month, or classic WCBS-FM for 99 cents a month. “‘Radio’ [in the future] will be creating local pods of entertainment, information and social networking — and charging a fair and reasonable price for it. Micro payments equal maximum profits.” Read Del Colliano’s full blog post here. AT&T LAUNCHES CRUISECAST SAT RADIO/TV, DOES SIRIUS XM HAVE A NEW RIVAL?Sirius XM may have a new competitor in AT&T: the company has officially launched their CruiseCast service, which delivers satellite radio and TV channels to cars. The service, first announced back in January (RAIN coverage here), includes 22 satellite TV channels and 20 satellite radio channels.
The service comes at the steep up-front cost of $1,299, with a monthly price of $28. While “Sirius XM Radio currently offers over 150 channels [compared to CruiseCast’s 22]…it’s amazing that in less than a year after the merger between Sirius and XM Radio a new satellite radio provider has emerged even if on a lesser scale.” What do you think, does Sirius XM have a new competitor? Should they be worried? Voice your thoughts in the comment section below. Read more on the story with Seeking Alpha here. share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
