From music to film, subscriptions have become essential. The average number of subscriptions an American consumer maintains is four and a half, spending nearly US$1,000 a year. The average Canadian household pays for two and a half streaming TV platforms.
As I explore in my new book, Music in Orbit: Satellite Radio in the Streaming Space Age, well before subscriptions became the norm for streaming media, satellite radio companies Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Radio convinced radio listeners to become radio subscribers at the turn of the new millennium.
The companies were marketed as radio beyond radio, expanding the range of channels available to listeners and using celebrities to convince subscribers of the value of these new services.
