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University of California Press

Music in Orbit

Satellite Radio in the Streaming Space Age
by Brian Fauteux (Author)
Hardcover Paperback eBook
Price: $29.95 / £25.00
Publication Date: Mar 2025
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 318
ISBN: 9780520414167
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 19 b/w figures
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About the Book

Years before the advent of music streaming, Sirius and XM established satellite radio services that attracted paying subscribers through their ever-expanding lineup of niche music channels and exclusive celebrity-hosted programming. Music in Orbit is the first book to explore how satellite radio bridges legacy broadcast music radio and streaming platforms, serving as both precursor and integral player in today's streaming media environment. Arguing for the ongoing significance of radio in the digital age and the pernicious effects of monopoly power on the vibrancy of contemporary music industries, Music in Orbit offers essential context for the serious problems now facing working musicians, music consumers, and music communities.

About the Author

Brian Fauteux is Associate Professor of Popular Music and Media Studies at the University of Alberta and author of Music in Range: The Culture of Canadian Campus Radio.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments 

Introduction 
1. The Songs Down to Earth: Music Radio and Outer Space 
2. Targeting Subscribers in Satellite Radio’s Formative Years 
3. Perceived Value and Satellite Streams in Music Programming 
4. Disposable Music and Monopoly Power in Policymaking 
5. The Stars Down to Earth: The Celebrity Radio Voice on Satellite Radio 
6. The Transnational, Technological, and Programming Expansion of SiriusXM 
7. Embedded Radio and the Limits of Expansion 

Notes 
Bibliography 
Index
 

Reviews

"Brian Fauteux's definitive study of satellite radio in North America reveals SiriusXM as both a monument to radio's resilience and continued cultural significance and a prime example of how monopoly and financialization wreak havoc on the music industry."—Elena Razlogova, author of The Listener's Voice: Early Radio and the American Public

"This is an important and groundbreaking book that traces how one audio service became a multimodal digital platform. Essential reading for scholars of radio and audio media, media industries, and media technologies."—Alexander T. Russo, author of Points on the Dial: Golden Age Radio beyond the Networks
 
"Deeply attentive to the dynamics of media industries and policymaking, Fauteux shows how satellites became central to music distribution over the last thirty years. His highly engaging book details the rise of SiriusXM and powerfully reveals how orbit serves as a domain of culture, value, and commodification in radio and streaming industries."—Lisa Parks, author of Cultures in Orbit: Satellites and the Televisual

"Fauteux orbits dazzlingly around his subject matter, covering satellite music's shifting value as a commodity, an industry, and a source of cultural  connection during its brief history. A must-read for anyone interested in the culture, technology, and business of twenty-first-century music circulation and reception."—Jason Loviglio, author of Radio's Intimate Public: Network Broadcasting and Mass-Mediated Democracy ​