Many passionate subscribers to Sirius and XM have criticized the company's for the "microchannel," or "pop-up channel" strategy - channels focused purely on a single artist or theme for a period of time.
But there must be a reason why they've continued to do these, and a recent article in the Washington Post gives us a bit of a glimpse into the theory behind this seemly new technique.
Take, for instance, Client 9 Radio:
"The Spitzer story was so in the zeitgeist of the country for a minute," says Scott Greenstein, president of entertainment and sports at Sirius told WaPo. "We try to be the ultimate aggregator."
Or even POTUS '08 (which, I'd argue, isn't a "micro" channel at all):
"There is a massive appetite for what's hot at the moment," says Eric Logan (E-Lo), XM's executive VP for programming. "We're trying to reflect the mood of current culture in a way nobody else can. Right now, the core appetite is for the presidential campaign, and we have Fox and CNN channels that cover that, but we wondered if we could take them deeper."
But what about the music channels? What about those "artist only" channels (such as XM Thriller, Rolling Stones Radio, Strait Country, or E Street Radio) that seem to be popping up more frequently than ever?
"When you look back, if you're north of 30 or 35, we bought records or went to a concert and it would move you, and for the next few days, you really mainly wanted to listen to that artist," Greenstein says.
So, in other words, the timing of these artist-only channels isn't meant to be just a promotional tool for those artists - which it clearly is - but also an extension of the music experience. A way for those dedicated fanbases to surround themselves with the full experience beyond simply hitting 'play.'
"People don't want to constantly aggregate and update an iPod," Greenstein added. "We're creating channels that aren't just jukeboxes, but are produced artistically, with interviews, live performances and archived material."
And while we don't know - for sure - the popularity of these channels, XM's Logan says that the more successful short-term formats match and even exceed the audience for some of the company's most popular regular channels.
Some of XM's most successful microchannels have been built around holidays: Radio Hanukkah, XM Green, Car-B-Q, etc.
I'd like to add that it's possible for these micro/pop-up, channels to coexist with the standard lineup. But there's only so many times you can preempt someone's favorite music channel with dedicated (and seemingly unrelated) content before they give up on the service. Keep the channels separate - or, simply enough, create a single channel meant just for this type of vertical content. Let your listeners have their cake and eat it too.
[Washington Post]
Well, the themed channels I can live with, and love them.. But, the single artist channels aren't my cup of tea. Or coffee. The themed (holiday) channels fill a niche. The single artist channels fill a few people who don't have an MP3 player....and that looks bad.
I don't mind microchannels that have a short term purpose like XM Green for St Paddy's day or Play Ball for a baseball related theme for opening day of the baseball season. They are brief and fun to listen to for short periods. I personally would never be interested in a celtic music channel but I am willing to listen to XM Green for the day to hear a few Irish pub songs. Igor was a great channel to enjoy around Halloween.
I think any microchannel , especially artist specific, that lasts more than 30 days such as the Led Zeppelin, George Strait and Michael Jackson channels are a bit excessive. It's a bit like relatives coming to stay at your house for a visit. A few days is great but anything longer than a week and you start looking forward to them leaving. As much as I am a fan of Led Zeppelin I didn't spend more than a few days of the first week listening to the channel. I then lost interest and moved back to my regular 5-10 channels I normally listened to.
I say keep em in the programming lineup but limit them to brief stays of a few weeks at the longest. We don't need Bing Crosby singing White Christmas on October 25th.
The theme channels sound like a good idea, (I dont have XM)
As far as the Single Artist Channels, they really could have been more brief with their reasoning, it really comes down to one word: PAYOLA
Like Guy, I'm also a huge Zeppelin fan, but it has not even crossed my mind once to check out the Zeppelin channel. Why would I want to hear that? How would it sound different than any one of my Zeppelin box sets on shuffle? I think its a complete waste of space for these microchannels, ESPECIALLY when they preempt regular programming. Much like the despise I formerly had for regular radio when it would change my station to all Xmas music during the season, all these temporary channels do is piss off regular listeners of what they replace. Either put all the microchannels on dedicated channels of their own, or stop it.
I love the theme channels and think XM could extend some of these a little longer. Play ball would be great for the whole week of the first season of baseball as the whole week is a big deal, not just opening day. Saying that individuals are excited about an artist after a concert, what about the family that didn't go to opening day but the second game and now wants that channel for the ride home, the ride to little league, etc. I see no harm in extending their times to be a full week.
Artist themed channels are less to my liking. The Thriller theme was cool because it was one month and marked something historically relevant, to music anyways. If it's for a month, go for it, let those fans rejoice, but don't over do it.
In short, gives us a little more of the themes, a little less on the single artist. Interrupting a regular channel is a bad way to go.
And how about an XMX XL? Same idea as XMX but with XL programming. Subsoniq, Unmaksed, anything else that's not so family friendly but uniquely XM.
These channels suck.
Well, personally, I'd like to see a Zappa channel...
I like the Stones, but give me back my Shuffle
I'd like to see a pop-up channel on the incompetence of the FCC in taking 14 months. No wait..... their caviler " fuck it" attitude would need a committed frequency. NOW ... Kevin Martin could use a "pop-up" for his career span, which is about to end in November if the free world is lucky.
What a George Bush "dope" this guy must be.
robford37, I don't know about a SatRad channel, but I do know Lagunitas Brewing in petaluma, CA has been releasing specialty beers every 6 months in his honor with album covers on the bottles. They've done Freak Out, Kill Ugly Radio and Lumpy Gravy (still in stores) so far, with We're Only In it For The Money hitting the shelves this summer.
I really liked Kill Ugly Radio, Lumpy Gravy is alright. Never tried the Freak Out.
I'm like the other fans of Led Zeppelin and really thought I'd have the radio parked on that channel, but didn't.. I have every studio release and the "official" live releases as well as some bootleg stuff.. I don't see the reason for wasting bandwidth for channels like this.. throw a channel like this up there and call it, oh I don't know, smokestack blues.. a heavy blues influenced driving rock channel...
>> Well, personally, I'd like to see a Zappa channel...
Now, THAT ought to bring 3-7 listeners.
Enough with the microchannels. It is soooo overdone. I like the idea of having a separate channel that is dedicated as a rotating microchannel. STOP preempting my favorite channels for 8 months of Bruce.
Instead of microchannels I prefer specials like "Lorber's Place" on Sirius 71. No need to preempt a channel - just put in a 1-4 hour block of programming!
Did E-Lo give this interview from the bottle of a bottle of vodka?
Did E-Lo give this interview from the bottom of a bottle of vodka?
Eric Logan is still with XM ?
If there is one thing that will destroy the satellite radio industry, it will be the two companies' over-reliance of single artist channels - especially Sirius.
What the companies need to realize is that any idiot can buy a collection of CDs from a specific artist, load the CDs into a computer, convert the CD tracks to MP3s, load the MP3s onto an Ipod, and - voila - instant single artist channel!
...and you don't need a satellite radio subscription for that!
Sirius, please bring back the Bridge and Planet Jazz!...and leave them alone!