Music industry angry as XM and Sirius offer satellite radio users free music downloads.
September 27, 2005
Unafraid to fight on multiple fronts, the music industry has now reportedly added the two largest U.S. satellite radio companies, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, to its growing list of musical outlets it believes are not paying the piper.
The bone of contention is the portable products that both satellite outlets have said would allow users to download songs they hear on the air.
There were clear signals last week that the two-part harmony between the music industry and the satellite radio companies was fading when Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. said he believes the satellite radio outlets should pay more in rights fees when their contract ends later this year.
“It’s now time for satellite radio to pay. We gave them a seven-year license at vastly below-market rate to allow that business model to occur,” he said. “There is no reason for their content cost to be one-tenth of what everyone else is paying and have this done on the backs of the music industry while they pay market rate to the NFL, Howard Stern, and Major League Baseball.”
as up $0.30 to $17.20 in recent trading, while Sirius was down $0.69 to $6.56.
Portable Pirates
In July, Washington, D.C.-based XM announced a portable MP3 player jointly with Samsung. The player, when docked to a home or car system, allows users to download songs they hear on XM and store them for playing on their MP3 devices (see Samsung, XM Make MP3 Player).
Last month New York City-based Sirius announced a similar device that it said would become the first wearable MP3 satellite radio. The device allows users to capture and store up to 50 hours of Sirius content, which of course includes music (see Sirius Has Wearable MP3 Radio).
According to a story in Tuesday’s New York Post, the Recording Industry Association of America, the record industry’s lobbying group, is hopping mad and is currently in discussions with both XM and Sirius over the new technology.
The RIAA reportedly sees the downloading of songs from satellite radio playlists as a clear violation of the industry’s agreement with XM and Sirius and expects to be paid for the use of its content.
“The music industry is mad at everyone, but they’ve got to realize technology is leapfrogging digital rights in a number of areas, so it’s going to be a tough battle keeping up with all the various changes in digital technology,” said Allen Nogee, principal analyst with In-Stat.
Mr. Nogee likens the satellite music downloads to taping songs off the radio.
“Unless music is encrypted, it is not difficult to copy, so transferring music from digital to analog format and back again is just very difficult to police,” he said.
The music industry truly seems embattled lately over the downloading of its content. Last week Apple CEO Steve Jobs called the industry “greedy” for requesting variable pricing on Apple’s iTunes music library. Currently all songs are priced at $0.99.
Last Thursday, Mr. Bronfman responded to Mr. Jobs’ comment (see Bronfman Fires Back at Apple).
“There’s no content that I know of that does not have variable pricing,” said Mr. Bronfman. “Not all songs are created equal—not all time periods are created equal. We want, and will insist upon having, variable pricing.”
XM, Sirius, and the RIAA did not respond to calls by press time.
iPod and XM Satellite Radio Capability Make Pioneer Elite A/V Receivers the Hub for Home Entertainment - 0 Comments
New music options from iPod and XM Satellite Radio are only two of the features that make the new Pioneer Elite A/V receivers the hub of a great home entertainment center. The VSX-74TXVi and VSX-72TXV introduced today by Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. serve as the “brains” behind a great home theater; bringing in data from all types of sources and processing the data to enhance the audio and video experience. An automatic room-tuning feature in the receivers processes the sound quality so that every seat in the room feels like the “sweet spot.”
As the “brains” of the system, a good A/V receiver must be able to connect every other device in your home theater. Pioneer’s new receivers can connect up to 18 products including DVD players, game systems, satellite and cable boxes, iPod digital music players and XM Satellite Radio Connect and Play antennas. The remote control allows the user to simply select the source they want to hear easily instead of toggling through the inputs to find the right source.
“A great receiver completes the HDTV experience by enhancing the overall audio and video quality from each source whether it’s a DVD player, cable, satellite or whatever. In this case, Pioneer offers the option to add two unique sources not traditionally found on an A/V receiver — iPod and XM Satellite Radio,” said Gary Bauhard, director of marketing and product planning for home entertainment at Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “The auto tuning feature also enhances the sound quality. Since no two rooms are the same, our receivers are smart enough to identify the weaknesses of a room, correct for them, and then create an experience consumers will brag about to their friends.”
Hub of Home Entertainment
– iPod - The world’s most popular digital music player with over 21 million sold. Connect iPod directly to the receiver to enjoy music through a home theater sound system. This transforms a primarily personal music player into something that can be enjoyed throughout the home. Instead of using the Click Wheel on the iPod, the remote control on the receiver is used to navigate through playlists, songs, artists and genres. The information can be viewed from a scrolling 14-character display on the receiver or from a full display on the TV.
– XM Ready - As millions of people have already learned, XM Satellite Radio offers more than 100 channels of original music programming, sports, news and entertainment. Now, with an XM Connect and Play(TM) antenna and a monthly subscription, the same great programming can be enjoyed through a home entertainment center. The XM antenna is connected to either of Pioneer’s new Elite receivers. The remote control for the receiver is then used to scroll through and select among the many available XM channels.
Auto Room Tuning
Pioneer created its own auto room-tuning feature — Advanced Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration — to customize the sound for each individual room. The room tuning processor uses the size, shape and surface of a room to optimize the overall sound quality. It will compensate for a room that is big or small, with high or low ceilings, hardwood floors or carpet and more, to accurately bring the music to life. By simply attaching the included microphone and pressing the button, the user activates the auto room tuning for that particular room. The memory settings allow a consumer to tune the room for anything from close quarter combat on gaming systems to lounging in a chair listening to music.
Completing the Experience
Both the Pioneer Elite VSX-74TXVi and VSX-72TXV offer special features that make them easy to fit into a custom installation. Among these features are:
– Ability to play and control audio in up to three different rooms independently. — HDMI(a) connectivity with digital video conversion — RS-232C and IO ports
The VSX-74TXVi and VSX-72TXV are available now at an estimated market price of $1,500 and $1,200 respectively. A limited quantity of both receivers will be available in silver celebrating 20 years of Pioneer Elite. Pioneer’s Home Entertainment Division is a leading manufacturer of plasma televisions and monitors, DVD players and DVD recorders, A/V receivers, CD players and CD recorders, speakers and other audio and video accessories. Its focus is on the development of new digital technologies including Digital Network Entertainment. The company markets its products under the Pioneer and Pioneer Elite brand names. When purchased from an authorized dealer, consumers receive a limited warranty for one year with Pioneer products and two years with Pioneer Elite products.
STMicroelectronics Ships More Than 10 Million XM Satellite Radio Baseband Decoders to Radio Manufacturers - 0 Comments
GENEVA, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) announced today that the Company has now shipped approximately ten and half million XM Satellite Radio baseband decoders to XM’s radio manufacturers. These System-on-Chip (SoC) products integrate all the specific functions needed to manufacture an XM Radio receiver. The 10.5 million XM Radio decoders have been delivered to equipment manufacturers including Delphi and Pioneer, for vehicle, portable, and home radio receivers. Shipments of the first XM baseband decoders began in the second half of 2001, when the function was integrated into two custom devices (a channel decoder and source decoder) in a 0.25-micron process technology. Around 2.5 million of these kits were delivered followed by nearly 4 million kits in 0.18-micron technology. And for more than a year now, ST has been shipping the single-chip XM baseband decoder, a monolithic device based upon a 0.13-micron process. This product recently passed the remarkable target of 4 million units shipped. “This milestone is very important for both STMicroelectronics and XM, and it indicates strong demand throughout the supply chain for XM’s digital satellite radio service,” said Ugo Carena, ST Corporate VP and General Manager of ST’s Automotive Products Group. “As the sole supplier of XM Baseband Decoders, right from the very beginning, ST is proud to be part of this highly successful business, and will continue its strong contribution to XM’s outstanding growth by extending its portfolio of products dedicated to XM receivers, including a monolithic front-end IC and a multifunction system microcontroller.” “STMicroelectronics has been a strong supporter of XM Radio with its on- time shipments of huge quantities of world-class quality chips,” said XM President and CEO Hugh Panero. “This has been a critical factor in XM radio receivers becoming the huge success that they are today.” ST is now starting deliveries of an innovative ‘System-in Package’ based product using the Company’s core know-how in both logic — and radio-frequency – based technologies. This combination allows ST to condense the complex functions of the XM receiver into highly integrated components, which strongly contributes to the reduction of size and cost of the end-user radios. About XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio is America’s number one satellite radio service with more than 5 million subscribers. Broadcasting live daily from studios in Washington, DC, New York City and Nashville at the Country Music Hall of Fame, XM’s 2005 lineup includes more than 150 digital channels of choice from coast to coast: the most commercial-free music channels, plus premier sports, talk, comedy, children’s and entertainment programming; and 21 channels of the most advanced traffic and weather information. XM was named Best Radio Service at the 2004 Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards. XM, the leader in satellite-delivered entertainment and data services for the automobile market through partnerships with General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, Porsche, and Volkswagen/Audi, is available in more than 120 different vehicle models for 2005. XM’s industry-leading products are available at consumer electronics retailers nationwide. For more information about XM hardware, programming and partnerships, please visit http://www.xmradio.com. About STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today’s convergence markets. The Company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2004, the Company’s net revenues were $8.76 billion and net earnings were $601 million. Further information on ST can be found at http://www.st.com.
SOURCE STMicroelectronics
Web Site: http://www.st.com http://www.xmradio.com