Radio Payola: How Big Radio Sells Out in America. Big Radio Greed The concentration of radio ownership has ushered in a new age of payola.
Huge recording labels pay off radio conglomerates to play their most bankable performers. Commercial "talent" is pushed to the top of playlists nationwide, shoving local artists off the airwaves. When labels pay big radio to play their most mainstream acts, independent music suffers and radio choice turns into a mind-numbing race to the bottom.Activists, musicians, students and independent broadcasters are joining with Free Press to stop payola and reclaim the public airwaves for more diverse, independent artists. The Storm Against Payola The FCC and New York Attorney General's office are now investigating reported payola deals at large recording labels. With action in the courts, the FCC and Congress, Americans need to act now to turn the tides against big radio and protect our airwaves from corporate greed.
An "Arsenal of Smoking Guns" It has been 40 years since enactment of the payola statutes. RCA (Radio Corporation of America) "By This Time Next Year" Radio Will Change. One paragraph in this Plain Dealer story of a city carrying great weight in radio's history states: "Keith Abrams, operations manager for Clear Channel locally, twice declined to comment for this story.
Clear Channel's corporate offices in San Antonio, Texas, also did not respond to a request for comment. " We all know that if things go well, people in positions of power rush to get behind the story and speak. If things are going not-so-well, we get this type of response. Radio-Usage-Trends. Analyst: Liberty May Fund Cable Buy Using Sirius XM Stake. Liberty Media (LMCA), which reportedly has been eyeing cable targets for Charter Communications (CHTR), could get funds for such an acquisition by selling a portion of its stake in Sirius XM (SIRI), analysts at Macquarie Capital said.
In a research note sent to clients on Thursday, analysts Amy Yong and Andrew DeGasperi also raised their price target for Liberty Media to $155 from $150. Liberty Media Chairman John Malone is said to be looking into ways Charter, the fourth-largest U.S. cable provider, can acquire a rival cable company like Time Warner Cable (TWC) or Cablevision (CVC). Charter has gone as far as hiring Goldman Sachs to pursue a bid for Time Warner Cable, which rejected initial takeover overtures from Malone.
In March, Liberty Media announced a deal to acquire a 27.3% stake in Charter. Earlier this year, Charter agreed to buy Cablevision’s western U.S. cable systems, Optimum West, for roughly $1.6 billion in cash. SiriusXM Hit With $100 Million Lawsuit. For a long time, it's been assumed that SiriusXM has the right to distribute and perform pre-1972 recordings.
Then last month, Flo & Eddie of The Turtles brought a proposed $100 million class-action lawsuit against the satellite radio giant, premised on the theory that because sound recordings didn't fall under federal copyright protection until 1972, the SiriusXM couldn't rely on statutory royalty rates for these older tunes. The initial lawsuit from Flo & Eddie was filed in California, but if state law rather than federal law applies, why stop there?
In fact, Flo & Eddie haven't. SiriusXM Coverage of NFL Season. Three Recipes for Radio's Future. Is Radio Serious about the Internet? Changes in Radio Listening Levels. Public Radio National Reports. Public Radio National Reports You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files.
Click the button for a free download. Public Radio National Trend 2012 The AQH Persons for CPB Stations falls by 4% versus 2011 and the Spring 2012 AQH Share slips a tenth of a point from the 2011 level. The 4% drop in CPB-Station National AQH Persons between 2011 and 2012 is led by a 10% decline in the largest Arbitron metros measured by PPM. The Spring 2012 Cume Persons estimate slips 2% from the 2011 peak and the Spring 2012 Cume Rating reverts to Spring 2010 level.
Radio Case Study. Pandora challenges Sirius XM. By Jennifer Saba and Liana B.
Baker Reuters Posted: 01/10/2013 11:47:18 AM PST0 Comments|Updated: about a year ago NEW YORK -- Sirius XM Radio's grip on U.S. drivers is under an increasing threat as the availability of Internet connections in more cars is helping Pandora Media counter some of its rival's big selling points. In a sign of how important drivers are to the two companies, each of their top executives made the trek to Las Vegas this week to court automakers at the annual Consumer Electronics Show.
Sirius XM, which has its satellite radios in 70 percent of new vehicles, generates the vast majority of its revenue through subscriptions and derives only a fraction from advertising dollars. The front desk of the Pandora Internet radio company on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 in Oakland, Calif. Right now, Sirius XM is the much bigger company, with almost 24 million subscribers and more than $3 billion in annual revenue.
Sirius XM Goes Along for the Ride. Hunger Games Radio Study. 8 test mkts beta launch NextRadio app. Eight test markets beta launch NextRadio app.
Less than three weeks after owners of Sprint’s HTC One and HTC Evo phones could begin accessing FM radio via the NextRadio application, nearly 10,000 people have begun using the app. That figure is expected to rise rapidly in the coming months as more handset models are capable of running NextRadio, and an eight-city marketing blitz rolls out. Sprint already has one million FM-capable phones in the market. Emmis chief technology officer Paul Brenner, who’s leading the development of the app, says the beta test will go live within the next two weeks.
It’ll be a collaborative effort between broadcasters, Sprint and HTC to see what the impact on app downloads and usage will be. Brenner says Sprint and HTC will use FM as a differentiator from competitors. Beyond traditional spots there will also be other forms of integrated marketing.