The Business of Music: A Competitive Look at Sirius, XM, Muzak and DMX
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 7:04 PM
Tags: 2, XM
Many don't realize it, but there's a whole business behind music provided for commercial applications. When you're out shopping for some new clothes, getting a cup of coffee, or laying in a chair at the dentist's - the music you hear is being delivered to you in some form or another.
That music can have varying effects on you, either enticing you to linger in-store a bit longer, or relaxing you (somewhat) during a stressful root canal. All these are meant to enhance your experience at the business, and eventually lead to that business's bottom line.
This is a look at the different nationwide multichannel commercial music packages, and how they compete to provide businesses with that content you hear.
HistoryThe main competitors in the commercial audio market are Sirius Radio, XM Radio, Muzak and DMX. And all four offer their audio broadcast services nationwide via satellite.
- Sirius and XM are the newest entrants into the market. They both have commercial music packages unique from their consumer offering, called Sirius Music for Business and XM Commercial Service respectively.
- Muzak, founded in 1934, has the largest brand recognition. Heard by 100 million people everyday, the Muzak name is synonymous with the "elevator music" instrumental remakes of popular songs that we're all too familiar with. Muzak has since rebranded itself and for years has had a veritable monopoly in the market of music for businesses. Muzak's product name is known as Muzak Audio Architecture.
- DMX was founded in 1971, and in 1992 they started broadcasting music via satellite. You may recognize the DMX brand from its residential music service that was delivered via cable (now its probably Music Choice).
Pricing
- Sirius Music for Business costs $29.95 per month, or $24.95 per month if you pre-pay annually. There is no contract required, although discounts apply for annual prepaid subscriptions.
- XM Commercial Service costs $27.95 per month. Like Sirius, there is no contract required, though there is no discount for pre-paying.
- Muzak ranges from $45 - $110+ per month with a required contract. Muzak works with customers to find an agreeable term of automatically renewing contracts. To cancel, customers must provide 90-day advance written notice.
- DMX ranges from $60-$150+ per month, also with a required contract. Like Muzak, DMX tends to lock customers into five-year automatically renewing contracts that requires a 90-day advance written notice to cancel.
Music ProgrammingAll the main competitors in commercial music all provide ASCAP, BMI, SESAC licensing included with their subscriptions. But all four vary in their offering. Here's a breakdown from each provider:
- Sirius Music for Business includes 68 commercial-free music channels which are identical to their consumer package.
- XM Commercial Service includes 170 channels, 69 of which are commercial-free music (also identical to the consumer package)
- Muzak includes 71 music channels. A business has the ability to strip out channels that may not fit into their business (e.g., Hard Rock at a dentist, etc) as part of their programming package.
- DMX includes 102 music channels, and like Muzak you are usually required to select a subset of the channels as part of your package. DMX too offers custom programming, but at a significant cost.
Content Filtering
No business wants to play audio that may be objectional to their customers, so all four providers allow for content filtering.
- Sirius has two package options: a Restricted Package, which provides only "business friendly" content; and an Unrestricted Package, which provides all Sirius Music content. Both packages maintain the pricing noted above. Sirius also has receivers that can block individual channels.
- XM allows for filtering at the channel level. Any channel deemed inappropriate may be blocked. XM also has receivers that can block individual channels.
- Muzak allows businesses to select desired channels from the list of 71 that Muzak offers. The number of channels does not grow with the price, and Muzak has said they work hard to meet the clients' expectations. Muzak provides access to over two million songs, so variety is not a problem.
- DMX also allows businesses to select channels from a list. But - as with Muzak - as the number of channels grows, so too does the price. DMX tends to provide more variety in delivered content, but the selections fall short of what XM or Sirius offers in their standard packages.
Delivery
All four companies use a satellite signal to deliver the audio nationwide to you, here's how they work:
- Sirius uses a standard S-Band Satellite Radio Antenna. Sirius broadcasts using If the antenna is properly installed - outside facing the proper direction - there are rarely problems with interruptions brought on by terrestrial conditions.
- XM also uses a S-Band Satellite Radio Antenna. XM primarily broadcasts using the XM-3 and XM-4 (Rythm and Blues) satellites. And just like Sirius, if installed properly, there are rarely problems with interruptions brought on by terrestrial conditions.
- Muzak offers three forms of content delivery: through a Ku-Band Satellite Dish (via Galaxy 3C, AMC-1 and Echostar satellites), broadband, and hard media. High winds, snow, and heavy rain can cause music interruption (also known as rain fade) for satellite broadcasts. So Muzak uses buffering and hard media failover to combat these problem. The hard media is delivered via high-capacity CDs that Muzak calls "XDs" - this allows them to fit an entire program (which could be over 1,200 songs) on one disc.
- DMX also a Ku-Band Satellite Dish and uses cassette tape (hard media) backup for interuptions in service. DMX uses various satellites to broadcast their service. DMX "fixes" the rain fade issue by buffering and hard media failover as well, but this also is only available at an additional charge to the monthly subscription rate.
Recently, longterm rivals Muzak and DMX have announced plans to merge. Both companies have struggled financially. Muzak, while revenue has steadily grown to $248.6 million last year, still remains unprofitable. DMX relocated to Austin from Los Angeles in 2005 after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The proposed deal between Muzak and DMX would apparently bring in new ownership after the companies merge. The third party that the combined entity would be to be sold to, remains unidentified.
There are currently two major nationwide dealers of Sirius Music for Business and XM Commercial Service: Applied Media Technologies Corporation (AMTC) and Dynamic Media.
AMTC operates under the brand name of SIRIUS Business as a reseller of Sirius Music for Business. Dynamic Media offers both Sirius Music for Business and XM Commercial Service offerings.
So the next time you're in a business, or even on hold on a call - most likely the music you're hearing comes from one of the many satellites in orbit, originating from one of these four companies.
EDIT: Some portions of this article have been updated to ensure full accuracy.
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Comments
Muzak (since 1936), while revenue has steadily grown to $248.6 million last year, still remains unprofitable ... huh?
Wow ! - I hope XM and Sirius get profitable in a shorter timeframe !
Posted by: Mike | April 18, 2007 7:28 PM
Will David Rehr and Jimmy For Sale Schaeffler let Muzak and DMX merge?
Posted by: Rich ? | April 18, 2007 9:02 PM
Muzak & DMX sucks. That's all I have to say.
Posted by: realwx ? | April 18, 2007 9:12 PM
XM also has a "XM for Business" feed on DirecTV that has one additional channel not available anywhere else on XM. It is an "Taste of Italy" channel. I am guessing the rest of the channels do not have any XM branding interrupting the music making it more directly competitive to Muzak and DMX.
Does Sirius also have a service like this? (I haven't looked it up.
Posted by: Jeff ? | April 18, 2007 10:27 PM
What's the source of this meaty lil' item?
Posted by: Mew Zach | April 19, 2007 7:44 AM
didn't read either, jeff:
# Sirius Music for Business costs $29.95 per month, or $24.95 per month if you pre-pay annually. There is no contract required, although discounts apply for annual prepaid subscriptions.
Posted by: Schimshamity ? | April 19, 2007 11:18 AM
Schimshamity, I'm not sure what you are saying. The article mentions that XM for Business is delivered over S-Band. That is only partially correct. You can also get XM for Business over DirecTV's Ku-band which is a *completely* different feed (no branding?). The article seems to imply that the costs are the same no matter how it is delivered. The article didn't really say. It seems to me that the DirecTV feed is a closer competitor to Muzak and DMX compared to their S-Band feed. That leads me to the question: Does Sirius have a similar service over Dishnet?
Posted by: Jeff ? | April 19, 2007 1:58 PM
XM For Business on DirecTV is basically a slice of stations from the music lineup on XM that is deemed "appropriate for business". They are basically the same XM Stations that are available to the non-commercial user in a different block of channels. There is no difference. There are still XM liners and DJs. Due to the nature of our business in Florida, there is only one station that's edited enough for us to use. XMFB Flight 26. I'd rather use Hitlist but it's too unedited for a place with kids. Flight 26 is marginal at times as well.
Posted by: JoeInfFlorida | April 27, 2007 10:30 AM
Here's some missing details with regard to the Pricing of Muzak & DMX
"Muzak ranges from $45 - $110+ per month with a required contract."
The higher price is because clients have the choice of multiple zones and or Muzak provided sound systems that are service by MUZAK techs at no charge to the client under normal usage.
DMX ranges from $60-$150+ per month, also with a required contract. Same goes for DMX.
" as the number of channels grows, so too does the price." This is simply NOT true-
Posted by: leslie | June 28, 2007 8:57 AM
The BEST music sound for businesses, offices, etc. is a small California company called TRUSONIC. Their music is fresh, changes daily (so you don't have to hear the same 4 hour CD played over and over), commercial free (um, remember how cable used to be no commercials and look at it now--which is what will happen to XM and Sirrius), and has a lot of really interesting twists like you can program messages for staff, customer specials, etc. And, it's less expensive than the others. Plus, the gal we worked with was very nice and actually answered the phone when we called!
TrusonicMusic@aol.com is how you can reach a representative, or you can visit their website http://www.trusonic.com--call and ask for Susan so she can give you a fabulous package!
Posted by: Sus | November 1, 2007 9:19 PM
The BEST music sound for businesses, offices, etc. is a small California company called TRUSONIC. Their music is fresh, changes daily (so you don't have to hear the same 4 hour CD played over and over), commercial free (um, remember how cable used to be no commercials and look at it now--which is what will happen to XM and Sirrius), and has a lot of really interesting twists like you can program messages for staff, customer specials, etc. And, it's less expensive than the others. Plus, the gal we worked with was very nice and actually answered the phone when we called!
TrusonicMusic@aol.com is how you can reach a representative, or you can visit their website http://www.trusonic.com--call and ask for Susan so she can give you a fabulous package!
Posted by: Sus | November 1, 2007 9:20 PM
DMX contracts are not cancelable!!! Once you sign up, they refuse to let you cancel. They will charge you for the remainder of the contract. EG. you sign up for a five year contract at 80 bucks a month. After 6 months your business happens to not fare well and you are forced to close your store. DMX will bill you for the REMAINDER OF YOUR CONTRACT. So you will be forced to pay for 4 and 1/2 years of service that you will never use.
DO NOT CHOOSE DMX THEY WILL SCREW YOU OVER!!!
Additionally- If there is a storm and their dish on the roof becomes misaligned because of wind- they will charge you $180 to come and do a 2 minute adjustment.
THEY DON'T SERVICE THEIR OWN EQUIPMENT FOR FREE!
BOTTOM LINE: DMX MUSIC SUCKS. Do not get suckered like we did. (5 different locations with DMX- all of them with DMX problems.
Posted by: DMX Subscriber | January 19, 2008 8:13 PM
DMX contracts are not cancelable!!! Once you sign up, they refuse to let you cancel. They will charge you for the remainder of the contract. EG. you sign up for a five year contract at 80 bucks a month. After 6 months your business happens to not fare well and you are forced to close your store. DMX will bill you for the REMAINDER OF YOUR CONTRACT. So you will be forced to pay for 4 and 1/2 years of service that you will never use.
DO NOT CHOOSE DMX THEY WILL SCREW YOU OVER!!!
Additionally- If there is a storm and their dish on the roof becomes misaligned because of wind- they will charge you $180 to come and do a 2 minute adjustment.
THEY DON'T SERVICE THEIR OWN EQUIPMENT FOR FREE!
BOTTOM LINE: DMX MUSIC SUCKS. Do not get suckered like we did. (5 different locations with DMX- all of them with DMX problems.
Posted by: PNorman | January 19, 2008 8:25 PM