I managed to stay out of the last thread on the death of the music
biz ( it won't -die- btw, it will just change ) but couldn't resist the
xm radio discussion.
Suprised that XM doesn't give a shit about idm? Look at idms' marketshare.
Consider a few things as background:
1. Primary investors ( amongst others): AEA Investors- founded by the
Rockefeller, Harriman, and Mellon industrial families( I'll stop there..)
Clear Channel ( lets all remember Clear Channels' position re: "appropriate"
music right after 9/11) , and GM (who, amongst other things, are busy
fulfilling a lot of defense contracts right now).
2. The director of programming, Lee Abrams, -literally- INVENTED the fm
radio format. So now, given the position he's in, how different could xm be?
How much more progressive? If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Keep the
fm model but change the hardware. Not a very imaginative biz model.
3. Back to marketshare.....props to Brian who sent them idm show demos to
the programming honchos at XM, but idm? Considering that we have 1000
subbers or more on this list, what does that represent in proportion to the
subbers to xm ? I would guess a percentage of a percent. Now, when Brittney
( or perhaps Kenny G or maybe BB King or The Dixie Chicks or Creed ) go for
that Proem remix, things might change. This is very unlikely as long as idm
is a smaller genre then say, nu-punk.
4. Consider that even though xm offers the stand alone units for the home
( I don't know how successful that has been, maybe maybe not...) , that the
majority of folks that use the service are car drivers. Whats the
demographic of car drivers that have xm that even listen or care about
electronic music? Perhaps those that tuned into the electronic channels
and found that DJ Rap show are hearing that kind of music for the first
time. But idm? The people that sub to xm and want electronic music want
Moby, bad club trance, maybe Air at best. Don't assume that the mainstream
has taste BECAUSE THEY DON'T!!! Mainly its about exposure? So.....if that
optimistic indie idm programmer could just get his mix to the right person,
maybe they'd take a chance on it?
which leads to-
5. Consider the retail and promotional tie ins. One of the ways that XM gets
paid is through promotional revenues worked with the stores- major retail
chains and e-tailers. So, lets say you finally get that vinyl only idm track
up on XM, or that track made on a CDR label, or even a Warp or a Ninja Tune
track, how likely would it be that XM could possibly work it into a retail
tie in? Answer: quite unlikely. When Sire did the Warp deal, mind you that
Aphex and Autechre -did indeed- get into major chains, but that the majority
of this went back as a loss. They overbought because they were strongarmed
to do the deal. Same thing would happen with an XM/Best Buy deal ( fill in
the blank of your favorite chain store..) .
XM radio- "beyond am, beyond fm" But still not "beyond" enough that they
didn't get past replacing the "a" or the "f" with an "X".
Peter
np: Rapoon- Fires of the Borderlands
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