this should be some eye-opening reading!

http://www.twice.com/article/CA385544.html?display=News

Excerpt:

XM Details Its Subscriber Growth Results

By Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 2/23/2004
Sidebars:
XM Q4 Revenue, Subscriber Numbers Soar


WASHINGTON— On the heels of its announcement that it exceeded the 1.5-million subscriber mark earlier this month, XM Satellite Radio held an earnings conference to outline some of the trends in the company's subscriber sales and comment upon rival Sirius Satellite Radio's new deal with EchoStar and RadioShack. (See story on p. 1.)


and from the accompanying sidebar:

The cost to acquire a new subscriber dropped dramatically in the fourth quarter, hitting $125 in the three months, down from $238 in 2002's final period. For the year CPGA reached $137, a 68 percent reduction from 2002, XM noted.

Fourth quarter loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) edged downward in the period, ended Dec. 31, reaching $95.5 million, from a loss of $97.3 million in the year-ago period. Net loss for the fourth quarter increased to $162.9 million, from $155.9 million in the same three months a year ago.

NOW, XM was the second fastest entertainment product/device/service to reach 1 MILLION units/subs, doing so in 1 year 11 months from market debut, trailing only the DVD player (SpaceDaily, www.spacedaily.com/news/xm-radio-03d.html ).

FASTER THAN: CD players, MP3 players, Radio, Television, DVRs, VCRs, online subscription services (9 YEARS 6 months!!!), cable and satellite TV.

Since satellite radio is the reigning champ untethered alternative to terrestrial radio for seriously motivated listeners, the kind who'll pay 10 bucks a month for select programming; and are unikely to abandon it, AND their hardware investment, for Virgin's or whatever-outfit-tries-on-Laskow's-model's service, WHO ARE THE 10 MILLION SUBS HE FANTASIZES ABOUT? HOW SOON WILL THEY BE DISCOVERED, AND HOW SOON WILL THEY REALIZE THE BENEFIT AND GET ONBOARD?

They're NOT gonna be the first million-and-a-half on XM, and however many more are on Sirius (they don't talk about their numbers)!


More importantly, read the second excerpt, from the sidebar.

Fourth-quarter net loss of ONE-HUNDRED SIXTY-THREE MILLION DOLLARS after three years in business.

Now stop and think a moment: regardless of what they're paying in PRO license fees, all of the higher-ups and key people are taking salaries I won't speculate on, to burn hundreds of millions of dollars of VC funding, getting and cashing GOOD checks, AND NOBODY'S ASKING THEM TO TAKE AND BE HAPPY WITH A PENNY PER ANYTHING!!! How's your checking account feeling this week?

But the only way THEY can EVER hope to turn a profit, i.e. sign and retain enough subs to the point that revenue exceeds expenses, is to CUT TO THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM their cost for the raw material that attracts people to the service in the first place!

The raw material that YOU, songwriter and artist, DESPITE your work schedules, and family needs, and personal relationships and hardships, CREATE!

The raw material that's so hard to come up with, work out, do well, get right.


Yeah, a penny per listen sounds about right [/sarcasm].

Hard to believe someone who claims to be on the side of just plain songwriters and artists is so anxious to shape everybody's thinking and expectations to their own economic detriment.

Ever tried to raise the price of milk after the cow's out of the barn?


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EdX.iuma.com www.soundclick.com/40LOVE www.soundclick.com/EdX

[This message has been edited by ed323 (edited 03-14-2004).]

EdX.iuma.com http://www.soundclick.com/40LOVE http://www.soundclick.com/EdX