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Music Businesses

SiriusXM Is Acquiring Pandora in $3.5 Billion Deal To Create the 'World's Largest Audio-Entertainment Company' (variety.com) 104

Posted by msmash from the big-bets dept.
Sirius XM has agreed to buy online-music service Pandora for $3.5 billion, as the satellite-radio company looks to add streaming services in the increasingly competitive fight for listeners. From a report: According to the announcement, the deal will create "the world's largest audio-entertainment company," with more than $7 billion in projected revenue in 2018 and more than 100 million monthly listeners, combining SiriusXM's 36 million subscribers and Pandora's 70 million-plus monthly active users. It also moves SiriusXM and its parent company, Liberty Media, aggressively into the streaming market. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019 and is subject to approval by Pandora stockholders; expiration or termination of any applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and certain competition laws of foreign jurisdictions; and other customary closing conditions. On a call with analysts, Jim Meyer, Sirius XM's chief executive, said that the acquisition would enable Sirius to try to keep listeners who did not want to pay for music by diverting them toward Pandora's free ads-based model.
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SiriusXM Is Acquiring Pandora in $3.5 Billion Deal To Create the 'World's Largest Audio-Entertainment Company' More

SiriusXM Is Acquiring Pandora in $3.5 Billion Deal To Create the 'World's Largest Audio-Entertainment Company'

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  • Ugh... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by I kan Spl ( 614759 ) on Monday September 24, 2018 @03:22PM (#57369320)

    I guess it's time to cancel my Pandora subscription.

    Who else is around that is better?

    • Probably a good idea. I know with SiriusXM, every 6 months I have to call and ask to cancel my subscription (you cannot do it over the internet or any other way) in order for them to offer me a 1/2 price deal for the next 6 months. It's ridiculous.
      • When I bought my last new vehicle, I got that deal twice and they never offered it again. On current new vehicle I got it once. I can't bring myself to pay $15/month for a radio that only works in my vehicle, especially since there is advertising on almost every channel.

        I do like Pandora at $5 a month because it works on all kinds of devices. I have a friend that had been working on her playlist for months.... I entered her favorite band into Pandora and had it make a playlist, and it had anticipated

        • If you pay $5 more per month you can stream the same channels online. That just makes it even more overpriced at that price point, though. They are saddled with the legacy of satellite launch costs in a world where people are now willing to stream over cellular. This is actually more expensive, but the cost of unlimited throttled bandwidth is somewhat hidden. If you have metered cellular, then you will not want to stream music while driving.

          • Pandora has an app, a website, and also links through surprising things such as Kodi and Squeezebox. I don't remember seeing SiriusXM though squeezebox or seeing a Kodi plugin.

            • Someone would have to develop those, and I'm sure it wasn't Pandora for the others. Low demand is certainly the cause here.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by edwdig ( 47888 )

            If you're using it in a car, it's going to be cheaper to get a satellite radio subscription than to get a streaming radio service and a larger data plan. Especially if you take advantage of discounted satellite rates.

            • And that's why I said:

              This is actually more expensive, but the cost of unlimited throttled bandwidth is somewhat hidden

            • Unfortunately, my experience with satellite radio is that it sounded like bitcrushed garbage. I had a free year with my car purchase, and I never used it after the first couple weeks because it was terrible.

              At least streaming isn't beholden to limited total bandwidth from a satellite, divided up among an ever-increasing channel count in a race to have more available content than other services.

          • If you pay $5 more per month you can stream the same channels online. That just makes it even more overpriced at that price point, though. They are saddled with the legacy of satellite launch costs in a world where people are now willing to stream over cellular. This is actually more expensive, but the cost of unlimited throttled bandwidth is somewhat hidden. If you have metered cellular, then you will not want to stream music while driving.

            Pandora uses surprisingly little data streaming. I have a 5 gig plan with my cellphone and play Pandora in my car (I switched from Sirius three or four months ago) I never come close to running out of data. If you're only on a gig or 2 a month or less... yeah, Pandora streaming might not be for you.

            • Right. And I just paid my cell phone bill. $40.59 for two phones, mostly on WiFi (and VoIP at home) and that's after taxes. The hidden cost of streaming is right on your phone bill.

              • Right. And I just paid my cell phone bill. $40.59 for two phones, mostly on WiFi (and VoIP at home) and that's after taxes. The hidden cost of streaming is right on your phone bill.

                Yeah... and it depends on how much data you have and how close you come to using it all.

                I use about 1GB streaming Pandora on my phone each month. That's probably listening to it over 4G for a little over an hour per weekday. (I skip songs A LOT- so probably use up more data than the average user). I have a 5GB plan and usually end the month with half my data left so streaming music doesn't cost me more (in terms of data).

                • it depends on how much data you have and how close you come to using it all.

                  Not really. You're still paying for that data. You could always pay for less.

                  I rarely reach the 1GB threshold on my plan (which adds a few bucks to my bill) because of planning. I know exactly how much I'm spending.

          • where people are now willing to stream over cellular

            I realize I'm in the minority, but a couple of months I was on a roadtrip all over British Columbia. There were long stretches of the highway where there was no cellular data coverage, but where my SiriusXM worked fine.

            • We had bought our vehicle just before we drove from Saskathewan to New Brunswick. I was definitely happy we had the trial for that. If I was traveling all the time, I may consider it.

            • There were long stretches of the highway where there was no cellular data coverage, but where my SiriusXM worked fine.

              Yet, the SiriusXM (free trial) in my car would cut out going under a bridge over the freeway.

              • Yet, the SiriusXM (free trial) in my car would cut out going under a bridge over the freeway.

                I find the physics of satellite reception fascinating. I'm at 49.3 degrees of latitude. Sirius works fine in the underground parking lot at my doctor's office, but outside at an intersection with clear line of sight to the sky it cuts out.

                Still, all through the Canadian rockies it worked - Even up at 53 degrees.

        • I do like Pandora at $5 a month because it works on all kinds of devices. I have a friend that had been working on her playlist for months.... I entered her favorite band into Pandora and had it make a playlist, and it had anticipated so many songs that she liked and had in her playlist she kept looking at her phone to confirm it wasn't playing from hers. So, let's hope SiriusXM doesn't destroy Pandora.

          Of all the streaming services, Pandora seems to handle multi-genre playlists better than the others.

          I'm st

          • I'm not a Pandora shill.. But Pandora is the only one that considers the quality of a song. If you're listening to southern rock you might get a one-off cover of a song by a country artist. Other services seem to break it down in terms of genres, which i find really brutal because I might want to hear one country song because of the way it is, not because I like country. My favorite playlist on Pandora right now is one it made from all my thumbs-ups ever.

          • Pandora has actually gotten worse at this over the years. I get a lot more repeats than new music. I prefer a wide variety.

          • I do like Pandora at $5 a month because it works on all kinds of devices. I have a friend that had been working on her playlist for months.... I entered her favorite band into Pandora and had it make a playlist, and it had anticipated so many songs that she liked and had in her playlist she kept looking at her phone to confirm it wasn't playing from hers. So, let's hope SiriusXM doesn't destroy Pandora.

            Of all the streaming services, Pandora seems to handle multi-genre playlists better than the others.

            I'm still kind of surprised that Google and Spotify, with all they know about me and my listening habits, can't seem to figure out that I don't just listen to one genre of music, and why it's possible to like Bauhaus or New Order without liking Flock of Seagulls, or why I might want to hear guitarist Bill Frisell, but not Pat Methany. Or Muddy Waters but not B.B. King. What happened to those services from a decade ago that were going to be able to predict your taste from listening habits?

            Also, one problem all the streaming services have is that if I want to shuffle-play my 10,000 song playlist, I don't want to just hear the same 50 songs over and over. There's a reason I have a 10,000 song playlist.

            I liked LaunchCast circa 2000. It was ahead of its time great formula for finding new songs.

            My main problem with Pandora, if I have one is that it seems to keep picking the same songs for me. Even if start a new station with new seeds- they all always end up playing the same 200 songs or so.

            • My main problem with Pandora, if I have one is that it seems to keep picking the same songs for me. Even if start a new station with new seeds- they all always end up playing the same 200 songs or so.

              Yeah, for some reason, that's a problem with all the services. The only way it makes sense is if they have better royalty deals with certain publishers or artists than others, and try to encourage plays of their music over others.

              I cannot figure out why every single streaming service has trouble randomizing a

        • I can't bring myself to pay $15/month for a radio that only works in my vehicle, especially since there is advertising on almost every channel.

          I can't bring myself to pay $15/month for a radio that's sub-AM quality and doesn't have a progressive rock channel. For $15/month, I (and the rest of my family) can stream anything I want from Google (Amazon has a similar service). And I can download stuff, so I don't have to use phone data when in the car, plus I can use it anywhere, not just in the car.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dmomo ( 256005 )

        I have had the same experience. I finally just stopped taking that deal. I told salesperson, if this were not a deal, but were simply the normal price, I would still be on the fence about taking it. I simply don't like the service enough to value it at more than a few bucks a month. And even then, I'm weary of them billing me on a monthly basis.

  • Sirius has issue with value (Score:3, Informative)

    by sinij ( 911942 ) on Monday September 24, 2018 @03:27PM (#57369346)
    Sirius has issue offering value - they have very expensive satellite radio with only a dozen or so channels. For that they try to charge $15/mo.

    • I think your math might be off for "only a dozen or so".

    • Re:Sirius has issue with value (Score:5, Informative)

      by bws111 ( 1216812 ) on Monday September 24, 2018 @03:33PM (#57369372)

      'A dozen or so channels'? I get about 150 channels in my car, and 200 or so when using their internet service.

      • Still, he's right what it's not worth $15/month, especially since most of those channels have advertising. If I was a road warrior and was out of internet and radio range a lot, I would buy it. But not worth it otherwise in my opinion.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by edwdig ( 47888 )

          The music channels don't have advertising.

          Of what's left, most of it is either sports channels or live talk shows. You're going to get natural breaks in those, so advertising isn't unreasonable there.

          • I find advertising unreasonable on anything I pay a premium price for. I can't honestly recall if I have heard advertising on music channels or not, just that a lot of the channels seem to have advertising.

        • Only the talk channels have advertising. Even with their ads its barely five minutes an hour. Stern's last year on terrestrial radio was 19 minutes an hour of commercials.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by bws111 ( 1216812 )

          YOU may find it not worth the $15/month, others (like me) may find it worth it. I have had XM/SiriusXM for over 10 years, listened to daily, and have yet to hear an ad on any music channel (I am aware that there are 1 or 2 channels that retransmit some crappy FM stations, I don't listen to those).

          • Yeah it's a preference thing. Personally I basically like a totally different playlist sometimes by the hour so I find the rigidity of the SiriusXM channels a little frustrating. I realize this is just me.

        • Still, he's right what it's not worth $15/month, especially since most of those channels have advertising. If I was a road warrior and was out of internet and radio range a lot, I would buy it. But not worth it otherwise in my opinion.

          Ads must be a new phenomenon. I was with Sirius for years and never heard any ads (besides ads for other stations/upcoming features occasionally). I quit earlier in the summer- no ads then.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by bws111 ( 1216812 )

            There are still no ads on the music channels, just like it has always been. He doesn't know what he is talking about.

        • Sirius was awesome ~15 years ago... good sound quality, channels that were like hypothetical big-city radio stations... but without ads... and worked even in "radio deserts" like northern Florida.

          Emphasis on "was".

          Now, even their music channels are bitrate-starved... piss-poor imaging & stereo separation, weird higher-order artifacts, and general "dead" sound. Content-wise, they've become more "XM"-like... good if you used to prefer XM over Sirius, awful if you didn't.

          Would I pay $48/year for it? Yeah,

      • 'A dozen or so channels'? I get about 150 channels in my car, and 200 or so when using their internet service.

        Yeah just like the GP said. A dozen or so channels. Sirius is like a cable company. Approximately 10% of the product is actually worth using.

    • aren't you paying for the howard stern channels and the rest is free?

    • Sirius has issue offering value - they have very expensive satellite radio with only a dozen or so channels. For that they try to charge $15/mo.

      Before I cancelled I was paying $8 a month with an a la carte plan that let me pick 50 stations (or some ridiculous amount)- I only regularly listen to about 3 or 4 stations. Pretty crazy not to do the a la carte with Sirius instead of the whole shebang.

      50 stations oughta be enough for anyone

      -- Bill Gates

  • Content Issues on Both (Score:4, Interesting)

    by omfglearntoplay ( 1163771 ) on Monday September 24, 2018 @03:30PM (#57369360)

    I loved Pandora for about 2 months way back when, then got sick of stale content.

    SirusXM I've had for 5 years. Loved it for 2 years, now completely burn out on it. I find about 1 new song every few days that I like, which is not nearly enough. I hear a lot of the same stuff over and over and over, sick of it.

    So I'm about to cancel it. The question is, should I pay for Google Play or Amazon Unlimited? Or something else? I don't love most current pop music, but I like various types of rock, dance, electro, ambient, and that sort of stuff.

    • Yeah, on that note - I guess they are a good fit for each other. If you want a service that focuses on repeating things instead of music discovery, their combined powers will....do more of the same.

    • Pandora would be helped by new content. Their playlist generation is awesome, but agreed it could have more variety to work with.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      I used to love it back in the day. Traveling out in the middle of no where and being able to get a station I like to listen to was awesome. Today? Today I can stream or load my phone up with more music than I could listen to in a month. And the non-music content? I though having news stations would be nice. Holy crap I never realized watching them on TV how many commercials they run. On SiriusXM with their repetitive commercials it's painfully obvious their commercial load is over 30 minutes per hour.

      It'

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by swm ( 171547 )

      Similar experience with both Pandora and Sirus XM.
      I gave up on Pandora pretty quickly.
      I held on to Sirus for some years, but found I wasn't using it.
      (My best use case for Sirius was driving, and I don't drive much anymore.)

      I subscribe to Google music now, and I'm happy with it.
      It's cheap, the catalog has pretty much everything, and the channels are OK.

  • "the world's largest audio-entertainment company"? Well good for you. How about allowing the rest of the world to use your services if you're so great?

    Or I could use Spotify, Apple, Google, Deezer, etc. who at least have international offerings.

  • Folks:

    I don't care about Sirius and others.

    I get a thrill making/publishing my own music and videos!

    You can see a sample at: My Bellingham Jail History Video with my own music [youtube.com]

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