SiriusXM Posts Record Q4 Revenue

2-5-15

A stellar year of automobile sales helped propel SiriusXM to a record quarter and a very successful 2014. The Satellite company reported net income of $143 million in Q4 and $493 million for 2014, compared to $65 million in the 4th quarter of 2013 and $377 million for 2013. The company also recorded 576,689 net new subscribers in the fourth quarter, marking the largest fourth-quarter increase since 2007. Self-pay net subscriber adds were 508,032 in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to 411,484 in the fourth quarter of 2013. When you add in all revenue streams, including subscriber, advertising, equipment and other, SiriusXM took in $1.1 Billion in Q4 and just under $4.2 Billion in 2014

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Cumulus Launches Record Label and New Format With Big Machine

5-13-14

The label is called NASH ICONS and is a partnership between Cumulus and Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Label Group. This new distribution platform, under Cumulus' NASH brand will be for Country music's iconic artists and compliment the contemporary music now heard on NASH stations all around the Country. As part of the NASH ICON label launch, Cumulus will also create and distribute a new format and feature show. There will also be live events, merchandising, video and a section in NASH magazine for NASH ICONS. Cumulus says its new venture with Big Machine will be profitable this year.

Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey said, "We are excited to partner with Scott and Big Machine on the creation of NASH ICONS. This is an important line extension for our NASH brand that provides a new multi-media platform for Country music?s most prolific artists from the last two decades.? Big Machine Label Group president and CEO Scott Borchetta added, ?There are so many iconic Country artists who are still passionate about recording new music and hearing their biggest hits on the radio. NASH ICONS will allow so many of these artists to do both. Big Machine Label Group is proud to partner with Cumulus in a way that allows us to keep entertaining the millions of fans of these all-time favorite artists.?

NASH ICONS will be based at the NASH Campus in Nashville.

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Record Labels Sue Pandora

4-17-14

The New York Times has the details about four labels (Sony, Universal, Warner Music and independent ABKCO) accusing Pandora of violating the state?s common-law copyright protections by using recordings of older songs without permission. This is a repeat of what the labels did to SiriusXM last year. The labels say recordings made before 1972 are not subject to copyright protection and they are owed tens of millions of dollars in royalties. The case argues that even though songs from before 1972 are not under federal copyright, Pandora should have to get permission to use them under state law.

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Super Bowl Stream Sets Record

2-3-14

Fox Sports reported very impressive digital numbers following the Sunday night blowout game. Fox says its live stream drew an average of 528,000 viewers per minute, a record for a live streamed sports event. Users spent an average of 47.8 minutes watching the live stream which was up 25% from Super Bowl XLVII (38.1 minutes) on CBSSports.com in 2013 and up 29% from Super Bowl XLVI (37.4 minutes) on NBCSports.com in 2012.

The Peak audience was 1.1 million concurrent users at 9:11 p.m. ET during the third quarter. Traffic for FoxSports.com on Super Bowl Sunday scored 5.5 million unique visitors. And Fox Sports Go was the No. 1 most-downloaded sports app for iPhones and iPads on Super Bowl Sunday, and the No. 2 most-downloaded iPad app across all categories.

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Internet Advertising Revs Hit Record High

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Continued Growth

Here's good news for your sales department -- internet advertising revenues in the U.S. hit a record-breaking high of $10.69 billion for the third quarter of 2013, according to the latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report figures released today by the INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING BUREAU (IAB) and PwC US. This represents an uptick of 15% over the record-setting revenues of $9.26 billion reported in Q3 2012. In addition, it marks a 4.2 percent rise from the second quarter of 2013, which came in at $10.26 billion.

“These figures reflect marketers’ trust in interactive to deliver,” said IAB Pres./CEO RANDALL ROTHENBERG. “It is indicative of the digital age in which we live, and within which advertisers need to effectively reach targeted audiences wherever they are consuming information or entertainment — often on several screens at once.”

“Continuous growth has been a hallmark of the digital advertising space for several years now, and these numbers support the fact that interactive has become crucial to the marketing mix,” said IAB SVP/Research, Analytics & Measurement SHERRILL MANE.

“Once again, interactive marketing is seeing remarkable gains,” said PwC Partner DAVID SILVERMAN. “Digital’s momentum is undeniable, as interactive advertising has proved itself to be an incredibly powerful channel for reaching consumers that are spending more time on digital screens than ever before.”

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Preston And Steve Set Donation Record

12-9-13

WMMR Philadelphia morning hosts Preston and Steve camped out in a parking lot for a week?s worth of broadcasts to generate interest and motivate listeners to donate food to feed the hungry. The marathon netted a record amount of food and cash donations for Philabundance, the Delaware Valley food bank responsible for distributing food to the needy. 772,468 pounds of non-perishable food was collected, filling 37 tractor trailers.  $240,521 in cash was also raised. One cash donation of $80,000 came from an anonymous source after hearing of Camp Out For Hunger on WMMR. 

The Preston and Steve Show welcomed dozens of Hollywood celebrities, local personalities, and live music performers each day. In addition to featuring a different, local house-band each morning, national recording artists performed, including Matisyahu, Sponge, and Living Colour.

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Mobile Helps Drive Web Revenue To New Record

10-9-13

The Interactive Advertising Bureau says revenue for the first half of 2013 was $20 billion. Mobile was $3 billion -- an increase of 145 percent. IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg said, ?Digital has steadily increased its ability to captivate consumers and then capture the marketing dollars that follow. Mobile advertising?s breakneck growth is evidence that marketers are recognizing the tremendous power of smaller screens. Digital video is also on a positive trajectory, delivering avid viewership and strong brand-building opportunities.? Here are a few more highlights from the report...

? Digital video, a component of display-related advertising, took in $1.3 billion in revenue during the first six months of 2013, an uptick of 24 percent over the first half of 2012 at $1.1 billion.
? Search revenues in the first half of 2013 totaled $8.7 billion, up 7 percent from $8.1 billion in the first half of 2012.
? Display-related advertising revenues in the first half of 2013 totaled $6.1 billion, accounting for 30 percent of revenues in the time period, up 9 percent from $5.6 billion in the first half of 2012.
? The top three advertising verticals accounted for 46 percent of advertising revenue, including retail at 20 percent, financial services at 14 percent, and automotive at 12 percent.

(10/10/2013 10:29:20 AM)
Mobile is increasingly growing and with the size of the screens being displayed, it is no wonder that digital video content seen the highest increase in revenue due to the need to capture the user's attention. We started with creating banner ads that had the ability to rotate on our radio apps, but now have included other clever ways to advertise on the applications that are able to generate revenue for the stations that we work with.
(10/10/2013 10:28:07 AM)
Mobile is increasingly growing and with the size of the screens being displayed, it is no wonder that digital video content seen the highest increase in revenue due to the need to capture the user's attention. We started with creating banner ads that had the ability to rotate on our radio apps, but now have included other clever ways to advertise on the applications that are able to generate revenue for the stations that we work with.

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CBS Targets Record Labels With New Position

2-20-13

Chad Fitzsimmons will move from KROQ and AMP in Los Angeles where he was Director of Integrated Marketing to take a newly created corporate position, Director, Music Initiatives. CBS says Fitzsimmons will work with CBS's 85 radio stations to develop and launch a variety of unique partnership opportunities with  record labels. The company also says Fitzsimmons will create exclusive experiences allowing listeners to engage directly with artists. His promotion is effective immediately and Fitzsimmons will report to Sr. VP Gregg Strasell.

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SiriusXM Subs Grow by 405K to Record 22.3 Million

5-1-2012

Sirius XM says revenue was $805 million in the first quarter of 2012, up 11% over first quarter 2011 revenue of $724 million. Net income for the first quarters of 2012 and 2011 were $108 million and $78 million, respectively, or $0.02 and $0.01 per diluted share, respectively. SiriusXM CEO Mel Karmazin said, "SiriusXM is starting the year with tremendous operational momentum.  We grew subscribers faster than any first quarter since our 2008 merger of Sirius and XM, and we improved our self-pay monthly churn rate to 1.9% despite implementing a price increase at the beginning of the year.  Rising auto sales and our strong execution should enable us to exceed our prior 2012 subscriber growth guidance of 1.3 million, which today we are raising to 1.5 million."

"We ended the first quarter with $747 million of cash, after the repurchase of approximately $57 million in aggregate principal amount of our debt during the first quarter.  Our leverage at the end of the first quarter improved to 3.9 times our adjusted EBITDA on a gross basis and 2.9 times our adjusted EBITDA on a net basis," said David Frear, SiriusXM's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.  "Our growing cash flow is reducing our leverage substantially, and this improving credit profile should benefit stockholders as we refinance or pay down more than $1 billion of high coupon debt over the next 15 months."

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Pittman Sets The Record Straight

Monday afternoon Clear Channel held its first earnings conference call since the company named Bob Pittman CEO of the company on October 2nd. Pittman was asked about the layoffs that have been sacking programmers and jocks in many small and medium markets under the Clear Channel umbrella. The layoffs have been big news, not only in the radio trades, but in newspapers all across the country. Pittman said of the reporting "I'm not sure anyone in the press got it right." And what it came down to was the determination that small and medium markets were just putting out some bad radio.

Pittman reiterated the latest firings were not about saving money. And, without actually coming right out and saying it, what he was implying was that Clear Channel came to the conclusion that small and medium market radio just doesn't cut it anymore. Pittman said "The driving force was: We have all these assets. How can we make it better?" The horrible thing is that some people lost their jobs. By the way, at the same time, we are adding jobs at the national level and in digital. This is a reallocation of resources and a different way of doing business, realizing that the world is different in 2011. After this reorganization, the businesses will be in great shape to operate better and improve the quality of performance and generate more revenue."

Pittman says this was not one of the efforts to reduce cost in the company. "This was truly an effort to improve the quality that we offer to those people. Any company that started before the Internet is outmoded in terms of operational structures. We took a very hard look at the smaller markets. I know what you are up against in those small markets. And I'm very excited about what John #Hogan# and his team have put together here." 

(11/1/2011 6:12:23 AM)
This is not a cost cutting measure...well why would they need to cut more, when they are squeezing more out of their remaining workers and paying them less? This is a fact. Also, I am sure many of the newly unemployeed are glad they got a free subscription to Radio Ink so they can read more about how bad they really are. Geez...the fact is, this is a political move...cut the workforce, drive up the unemployment rate, force a change in the White House. The problem is, the law of diminishing returns. Eventually no one will have any money to spend with CC's clients.
(11/1/2011 5:59:40 AM)
..sounds like voice tracking, remote voices, and automation in Clear's small markets.
(11/1/2011 2:49:30 AM)
I'd be curious to know if these comments were delivered with a straight face.

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New Chili Pepper Record is Rock's Shark Week

by Phil Manning

Shark week came and went on the Discovery Channel. This week of highlighting the plight of the shark creates major buzz every year. Then the majority of the public goes 50 weeks without thinking about a shark, but wow, the riveting video and more so the PROMOTION for shark week is rather, ahem, biting. And the website for this show is quite spectacular and robust. New camera angles, new cages, new stories?.the best of everything that television can do.

And obviously advertisers are lining up because of the buzz the show has built over the years. Alternative Radio---what?s your Shark Week? Is there a week or two during the year that you devote to something completely YOU? If you were to create your shark week, what is your shark? Please don?t say flyaways. And how would you create that buzz?

To me, the obvious is a new music week highlighting core and upcoming songs and artists. You?d build an amazingly robust website for this and you?d market it as much as possible. You?d have video, streaming channels, maybe even kick off a groupon like subscription curator?YOU. The 20th anniversary of grunge, Pearl Jam?s 10 and Nirvana?s Nevermind is upon us. Have you or are you doing anything major for historical landmark moment?

The current opportunity I see is this week with Alternative?s biggest artist-The Red Hot Chili Peppers. You?ve known for weeks that their new release ?I?m With You? is coming out on August 30th. You?ve had the chance to get together with Warner Bros. and RHCP management to create complete ownership of the Chili Peppers release in your market.  What have you done?

From my analysis, it?s being treated very haphazardly, like a fire just started in a trash can. No planning, just throwing water on it. Several stations have tweeted that they will be playing new tracks hourly; 91X/San Diego is streaming the full length at 91x.com. I have not seen nor heard one promo that this week is going to your Red Hot Chili Peppers SHARK WEEK.  Sure playing tracks on the air this week is vital and obvious, but are you going above and beyond? Are you making news?! Are you having fun?!!!

While I?d love to be sitting in the big boy (read: P.D.) chair, I?m not. But in addition to the above new music shark week ideas, I would do this for the Chili Peppers release:

--Rent a Flat Bed truck and completely deck it out all things Chili Peppers and my station.
All week, I?d take the truck to all my and my competitors? hot zips and play the full 
length over a sound system giving away Ice Cream (hello sales department), free
downloads for the new album. I?d have laptops available with headphones to more  
intimately listen totracks as long as they sign up for my database.

--Promo one week out that you?ll be playing a track an hour?.ALL WEEK. Take the time to
create some incredible imaging aligning yourself with the band and your history with
the band. Many stations are starting to throw tracks on now with no pre-promotion.
--Negotiate with my major league baseball team to have tracks played on the sound system between innings and get my logo on the Jumbotron.

What evolutionary or revolutionary ideas have you come up with? Play some tracks here and there and hope the listener catches them? In a properly montitored world, you would get a ratings bump. It is the biggest Alternative band on the planet. But that is not the point. The point is you are highlighting to your listeners your ?EST?, your strongest suit and having a ton of fun doing it.

Phil Manning is Editor at www.AlternativeContraband.com, covering the Alternative radio format with editorials, new music discovery and format news and analysis. He can be reached at Phil@AlternativeContraband.com

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WBBM-AM Chicago General Manager Rod Zimmerman Goes On The Record.

"The time was right" says CBS RADIO Senior Vice President and Market Manager for Chicago Rod Zimmerman. Newsradio WBBM has been on the AM dial in Chicago for 43 years. On August 1st, the legendary news station will also have a home on FM as CBS decides to go the route other news stations are going to try to capture the younger demo. WBBM will simulcast at 105.9 which means the CBS Adult Contemporary station in the market goes away. The switch may have had something to do with the anticipated launch, by Randy Michaels, of an FM talk or news format. However, in this (audio) interview with Zimmerman, he would not say that had anything to do with the WBBM change.

RADIO INK EDITOR ED RYAN INTERVIEWS ROD ZIMMERMAN

Listen to Newsradio WBBM-AM  HERE

(7/15/2011 8:27:10 AM)
This is a big deal and it's not a big deal. What I mean, here in the DC area nationally-ranked top news station WTOP went from AM to FM about 4-5 years ago and never missed a beat and are still kicking butt with the better signal.

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Katy Perry Nears Michael Jackson No. 1s Record

by Keith Caulfield, L.A.  |   June 24, 2011 3:55 EDT

To say that Katy Perry has been on a roll lately would be a grand understatement. But now, the star is nearing a feat only previously achieved by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. 

On the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, Perry's latest single from her "Teenage Dream" album, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)," flies 31-4. As Gary Trust notes in today's Chart Beat column, if it hits No. 1 on the Hot 100, Perry will become just the second act -- and first woman -- to score five No. 1s from one album in the chart' 52-year history, as "California Gurls," the title cut, "Firework" and "E.T." all previously reigned.

Katy Perry's 'Friday' Flies Up Hot 100, Adele Still No. 1

Only Michael Jackson, with his 1987 set "Bad," has so far collected five Hot 100 No. 1s from one album release. "Bad" spawned the No. 1s "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," the title track, "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana."

Check Billboard.com next Wednesday (June 29) for highlights of next week's Hot 100, to be released in full in the Billboard.com charts menu the following day.

In other impressive and unprecedented Perry chart news, she was already the only artist with four 4-million-selling downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan. As of this week, Perry pulls further ahead of the pack as the only artist with a whopping five.

Photos: Katy Perry's 30 Most Outrageous Outfits

"E.T.," which topped the Hot 100 for five weeks beginning April 9, surpasses the 4-million mark in download sales, according to SoundScan (4.06 million). Perry is now the only act to have five songs sell more than 4-million each. (Lady Gaga is next with three 4-million-sellers).

She previously hit the 4-million mark with "Hot N Cold" (4.91 million), "Firework" (4.53 million), "I Kissed a Girl" (4.07 million) and "California Gurls" (4.88 million).

More evidence of Perry's power? Adding to the pileup of her staggering sales and chart statistics, "E.T." became the top-selling download of 2011 as of the week ending May 1, when it overtook Cee Lo Green's "Forget You (F**k You)."

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Tim McGraw Files Countersuit Against Record Label

by Ray Waddell, Nashville  |   May 24, 2011 2:41 EDT

As expected, Tim McGraw has filed a countersuit against Curb Record in response to the breach of contract suit Curb filed May 13 relating to McGraw's "Emotional Traffic" album. McGraw's counter breach suit seeks advance payment and recording-fund reimbursement, unspecified damages, and a jury trial.

The suit also asks that "Traffic" be deemed McGraw's last album due the label and for McGraw to be "free to begin recording for himself or any other party as of July 23, 2011." 

Tim McGraw Sued by Label for Breach of Contract

Curb alleged in the May 13 complaint that McGraw's "Traffic" tracks were recorded too early prior to its delivery "in a transparent tactic to attempt to fulfill his contractual recording commitment to Curb prematurely in breach of the recording agreement."  Curb's position in the suit is that McGraw's recordings should be "topical and new" and that the artist had agreed that each new album be recorded "no earlier than 12 months and no later than 18 months" following the delivery of the previous album. The suit alleges McGraw began recording "Emotional Traffic" tracks "in 2008 or before," prior to the allowable period under contract, according to Curb.

In the expansive response filed May 23 in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville, McGraw says the material for "Traffic" was recorded and mastered in early 2009-2010 and Curb is holding the album "hostage from country music fans for the purpose of compelling Tim McGraw to serve perpetually under a contract that he has already fully and faithfully completed." The suit adds that Curb's "repeated serial releases of what it characterizes as greatest hits albums is obviously a naked attempt to create a perpetual recording contract, forcing Tim McGraw into a repressive environment of indefinite duration." 

Between 2006 and 2010, Curb put out six compilations or variations on hits packages, the latest being "Number One Hits" last November. Curb has released a total of seven compilations on McGraw.

Amid numerous charges of "bad faith," McGraw's response says that since 1997 Curb has never rejected any of the 108-plus master recordings McGraw has delivered, and that Curb's release of compilations extends the allowable delivery period to 24 months. The counter-suit also breaks down in great detail why the artist believes "Traffic" to be his final album due the label under contract. Among the allegations are that Curb "enticed agents for Mr. McGraw to present the unfinished rough mixes [of "Traffic"] under false pretenses....to avoid paying [McGraw] the advance" for delivering the album. In addition to the breach of contract charges, the countersuit charges intentional interference with business relationships, including with "various entities regarding his "Emotional Traffic" tour" and "created a void" of McGraw's music at radio. 

Curb attorney Jay Bowen of Nashville-based firm Bowen & Unger did not immediately respond to a request for comment. McGraw is represented by attorney Rusty Jones of the Nashville firm Harris, Martin & Jones, who made good on his comment to Billboard last week that "We are going to respond vigorously and promptly" to Curb's suit.

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