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A. How the #$#% do these guys make ANY $$$????
B. Do they pay RIAA for all songs including skips??????
C. Seems barrier to entry is anyone that wants to give free music away.
D. They now have access to the dash with phone app's!!!!!
TIME FOR SOMEONE TO SHUT THESE COMPANY'S DOWN!!!!
Can SIRIXM activate somesort of "skip" feature with current sat's in the sky?
A. Slacker has varying levels of paid premium service, ads to support the free service, and their hardware.
B. Yes, they pay royalties.
Sirius XM cannot implement a "skip" feature with the current satellite technology. Although, they obviously could implement something similar via the web.
Regarding SlackerQuote:
Originally Posted by LIBOR/TED SPREAD
A) Probably not yet but it seems to be a scalable concept so they may not be bleeding cash. I wonder how much they lost selling those G1 radios on Woot for $39-$79
B) My understanding is they negotiated deals directly with the record companies. They don't have deals with evey record company so there is holes in their playlist. Their 80s Alternative station has a deeper playlist than First Wave.
C)Great Service. The basic service is ad based. It has a few ads per hour. I have the plus service. $50 a year gives unlimited skips and no ads.
D)Yes, but most adults are afraid of technology. Sirius is easy to use, Slacker requires a little more effort. Also to use Slacker on a phone you need an unlimited data plan, which is comes with an iphone but is not the case with most people's plans.
Shut them down? No. Sirius should aquire them in the future if they ever generate the kind of cash that Mel keeps predicting.
I use the Starmate 4 in my car everyday. I tun my car on and First Wave is there. At home, I haven't touched my homebound Stiletto 100 once since I got my Slacker G1. I am not ready to cancel my second sub but if the Stiletto broke I wouldn't replace it
Great information everyone, thanks!!!!
I believe when it comes to revenue it takes SIRIXM 3 days what Pandora does in a YEAR!!!!!
What "competitive advanatages" does Pandora, Slacker, etc have if there is NO barrier to entry here????? With addverising $ being spent with more disipline who would they rather get in front of
A. The guy that wants FREE STUFF
B. The guy willing to PAY for things?
I see consumers LOVING this (its %%!#@ free) but I just dont see how they will make $$$$
YES, I HAVE SAID FOR YRS FOR SIRI TO BUY THEM :)
Sirius and XM's delivery system required two billion in investment in satellites before customer one could be serviced. The first twenty million customers barely cover the fixed costs and debt service.
A service like Slacker could be started with some agreements with record companies, likely based on revenue. Minimal investment in equipment and programming. Distribution is via existing hardware, the internet. If advertising covered the free streams, the paid services could cover the costs and maybe make some money. The biggest expense would seem to be the portables, the G1, which seem to be being sold at a discount, and the G2 which is being distributed largely through Best Buy. I don't know how many G1s and G2s were made but I am sure the investment is in tens of millions and not billions.
1. Pandora is already in financial trouble.
2. Low ad reates will impact any "free" service. These guys are getting low ad rates just like everyone else.
3. Internet radio royalties are more expensive.
All of that being said, I think Sirius XM should improve their on-line experience along the lines of what Slacker is doing. No need to buy them. Sirius XM already has the name recognition. They simply need to do something with it.....BUT.....unless it makes money NOW, it is not the time to do it.
By the way, I have Slacker Premium and love it
Tyler,
You're assuming that someone at Sirius would know to program a service like Slacker. There are times that I wonder if Sirius knows how to run it's own business. I luckily haven't lost a single one of my favorite stations, well maybe Punk, but that was gone before the channel merger. I am amazed what a PR disaster the channel merger has become. Instead of trying to split the difference slowly since August, they opted for sudden changes that usually resulted in shorter playlists.
By dealing directly with the record companies, Slacker has been able to either get a better deal or atleast one that is more applicable to their kind of service. So the internet service may not be more expensive.
I agree with you that the advertising model is difficult, to say the least. Add to that that, they are only playing one or two ads an hour and I don't see how they are making any money on that end of the business. Killing the free service is difficult since people went out and bought hardware. I think they will have to increase the quantity of advertising until they break even and/or force listeners to buy the plus service. The plus service is a bargain at $50 a year.