Music Choice (abbreviated as MC) is an American television music service that digitally broadcasts audio-based music channels and video-related content to cable television providers in the United States. Music Choice reaches 65 million households in North America via linear television channels and TV-on-demand services. Music Choice is distributed nationwide by

Xfinity Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the c ...

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...

, Verizon Fios,

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

and other smaller cable providers. Similar broadcast music services include

DMX Earl Simmons (December 18, 1970 – April 9, 2021), known professionally as DMX, was an American rapper and actor. He began rapping in the early 1990s and released his debut album ''It's Dark and Hell Is Hot'' in 1998, to both critical acclaim ...

Stingray Music Stingray Music is a Canada-based international multi-platform audio service that broadcasts continuous streaming music and other forms of audio on multiple channel feeds. The service is owned by Stingray Digital. While a song is playing on the ...

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

, and

XITE XITE is an interactive music video platform. Founded in the Netherlands with linear networks, interactive TV, and on-demand streaming services, XITE is now live in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom a ...

History

Early development Music Choice (formerly known as Digital Cable Radio) was the first digital audio broadcast service in the world and, under its founder and CEO David Del Beccaro,

launched in

test market A test market, in the field of business and marketing, is a geographic region or demographic group used to gauge the viability of a product or service in the mass market prior to a wide scale roll-out. The criteria used to judge the acceptabilit ...

s circa 1987. From its inception as an eight- channel audio service from

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...

's cable group, Music Choice evolved into a multi-platform interactive music network based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

that reaches millions of consumers across the country. Music Choice is a partnership owned by a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources ...

, including

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribe ...

through its acquisition of

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, opera ...

in May 2016,

EMI Music EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012 ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

Arris International Arris International Limited (styled as ARRIS) is an American telecommunications equipment company engaged in data, video and telephony systems for homes and businesses. On April 4, 2019, Arris was acquired by network infrastructure provider CommS ...

(previously

's cable technologies division), and

Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation SONAM, headquartered in New York City, manages the company's US-based businesses. Sony's principal U.S. business ...

. Music Choice launched its first 24-hour

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

music video cable channel, SWRV, in February 2010. Several of its stations are measured through

Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...

and its playlists are accounted for in weekly airplay charts in addition to traditional radio and

plays.

Platforms

Linear audio channels

Music Choice currently offers over 50 linear channels of various

music radio Music radio is a radio format in which music is the main broadcast content. After television replaced old time radio's dramatic content, music formats became dominant in many countries. Radio drama and comedy continue, often on public radio. M ...

formats through

digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previ ...

providers. The number of channels available varies by provider.

Music Choice On Demand

Music Choice offers free

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

content, including hundreds of music videos from various recording artists, original programs, and artist features.

TV Everywhere App

Beginning in July 2008, Music Choice released iOS and Android apps. The app requires login with a participating provider's

TV Everywhere TV Everywhere (also known as authenticated streaming or authenticated video on-demand) refers to a type of subscription business model wherein access to streaming video content from a television channel requires users to "authenticate" themse ...

authentication credentials to use, and the same access is available on traditional desktop/laptop web browsers.

On-screen information

Each Music Choice channel is distributed in

freeze frame television Freeze frame television is television in which the frames of the video are transmitted as a sequence of still images at a rate far too slow to be perceived as continuous motion by human vision. The receiving device typically displays each frame un ...

, with still slides appearing on-screen as the music plays. These slides display

banner advertising Digital display advertising is online graphic advertising through banners, text, images, video, and audio. The main purpose of digital display advertising is to post company ads on third-party websites. A display ad is usually interactive (i.e. ...

(the only advertising on the service, as the audio programming airs commercial-free) along with a looping carousel of “Did You Know?” factoids paired with file photos of the artists in question. In the past, the on-screen trivia factoids have been criticized by some as featuring facts that are overtly depressing or deal with death, as a May 2017

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

story cited a number of factoids recalling various illnesses, homicides, and suicides of various musical artists and their close family, friends and partners over an evening of the network's programming. The color coding on the channel can be blue, pink, green or yellow depending on the dayparts. In 2021, these Music Choice channels has a photo slideshow, with still changes the picture appearing on-screen as the music plays.

SWRV

In February 2010, Music Choice launched SWRV (pronounced 'swerve'), a 24-hour

music video cable channel. The network struggled to gain momentum and was eventually rebranded to Music Choice Play on October 15, 2013, then wound down by the start of 2016.

Subscription services

As of the fall of 2021, Music Choice offers several subscription services which are available through the extended Internet-connected services of cable set-top boxes.

Music Choice Karaoke

A home

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

service providing access to instrumental versions of popular songs sorted into playlists with sing-along lyrics.

Music Choice Relax

A service providing calming instrumentals and soothing nature imagery for the purposes of relaxation.

Music Choice Plus

A service providing immediate access to any song in the Music Choice library, along with playlist creation, device downloads, and song skipping abilities.

Legal issues

Stingray

In June 2016, Music Choice filed a lawsuit against

Stingray Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ...

over patent infringement. The lawsuit occurred one month following the announcement that Comcast, part owner of Music Choice, had chosen instead to offer

Stingray Radio Stingray Radio (formerly Newcap Radio) is a Canadian radio broadcasting conglomerate owned by Stingray Group. It owns and operates 101 radio stations in Canada—making it the second-largest radio conglomerate in Canada behind Bell Media. It also ...

. Music Choice drew criticism with the lawsuit; Stingray responded: “Given the significant inroads that Stingray has made in the U.S. market omcast expansionwith its industry-changing technology, Stingray believes that Music Choice’s complaint is without merit and primarily motivated by competitive concerns rather than a desire to protect its intellectual property.” Music Choice's lawsuit against Stingray disputed a number of U.S. Patents pertaining to the on screen formatting of Stingray Digital's music channels. On August 29, 2016, Stingray countersued Music Choice calling the patent lawsuit a ''"smear campaign".''

Music Modernization Act opposition

In 2018, A2IM CEO Richard James Burgess accused Music Choice of trying to solicit artist and label support to deceive Congress into reducing artists royalties paid by Music Choice. The criticism came as Music Choice publicly opposed the passage of the

Music Modernization Act The Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, or Music Modernization Act or MMA (, ) is United States legislation signed into law on October 11, 2018 aimed to modernize copyright-related issues for music and audio recordings due t ...

, which ultimately was signed into law on October 11, 2018.

SoundExchange

On April 10, 2019, SoundExchange filed a lawsuit against Music Choice for underpayment, following an audit of Music Choice's royalty statements.

References

External links

Music Choice Official website
{{Sony Corp Cable radio Video on demand services Music television channels Television channels and stations established in 1987