Sirius XM Posts Record Revenue, Talks About Upcoming Internet Radio Service

Sirius XM Satellite Radio reported record revenue and earnings Tuesday as it opened the door on a new product: Internet radio. The company's 2012 revenue grew 13% to a record $3.4 billion while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 26% to $731 million. Net income ballooned to $3.47 billion because of a $3 billion income tax benefit.

As previously announced, Sirius XM added 2 million subscribers in 2012, the best year since 2007, the year before Sirius and XM merged. The company ended the year with 23.9 million subscribers. To put that in perspective, Sirius XM is not far behind Netflix, which ended 2012 with 25.5 million paid U.S. subscribers to its streaming service (it had another 8.2 million subscribers to its DVD rental service). On the other hand, on-demand music subscription services like Spotify and Rhapsody have about 1 million subscribers apiece in the U.S. 

Sirius XM subscribers will soon get a Pandora-like listening option in addition to the satellite radio service. During Tuesday morning's earnings call, CEO Jim Meyer gave an overview on the overdue Internet radio service that previous CEO Mel Karmazin first announced last year. Called MySXM, the service will allow users to create personalized versions of existing Sirius XM music stations. Subscribers can start with channels they already enjoy and fine-tune the music using "unique slider controls."

MySXM will be available on all platforms, such as iOS, Android and the web. Meyer did not offer a timeline for its launch, saying MySXM is "upcoming" and is now in consumer beta.

Sirius XM is intent on keeping the customers it has. Meyer believes the service will keep the customer engaged in the home and will be a "defensive play" in the automobile, where Sirius XM satellite radio competes with Pandora and Clear Channel's iHeartRadio Internet radio services. Meyer doesn't think two services would be overkill. He added that Sirius XM believes it can deliver a better experience with lower churn in a true connected car.

Sirius XM ended 2012 in good financial shape. To reduce some of its long-term debt, the company paid down more than $1 billion in high-coupon, short maturity debt last year and replaced it with $400 million of 10-year, 5.25% debt and a $1.25 billion credit facility. After paying a special dividend of $327 million in December, the company has $523 million in cash reserves, and it's sitting on a $1.2-million deferred tax asset.

But don't expect the same subscriber growth this year that put Sirius XM's balance sheet is such a good position. Sirius XM reiterated its previous guidance of 1.4 million total net subscriber additions, down from 2 million in 2012. 

CHRIS BROWN'S COMMUNITY SERVICE HOURS IN QUESTION?

The grave Chris Brown keeps digging for himself continues to get deeper.

With his controversial relationship with Rihanna and alleged brawl with Frank Ocean practically public record, it seems his community service hours are not.

According to TMZ, the L.A. County District Attorney has filed legal claims against the "F.A.M.E." singer -- who was dealt 180 days of community service and probation for the 2008 Grammy assault case -- for clocking in fake hours.

Chief of Police in Richmond Bryan T. Norwood wrote a letter to the judge dated Sept. 14, claiming Brown had successfully completed 202 days. He reportedly did work at the Child's Center -- where Brown's mom was once a former director -- performing odd jobs such as painting, washing windows, waxing floors, cutting grass and picking up trash.

However, legal documents show that the Richmond P.D. only monitored 9 or 10 cases without supervision for other cases at the Center and that the hours were submitted by his mom.

Even Chris' lawyer Mark Geragos was entangled in the alleged fraud, instructing the lawyer for the Richmond P.D. on how to handle D.A. investigators' questions about Chris' community service. Chris and the Chief of Police reportedly had a prior relationship.

Sources say they found no "credible, competent or verifiable evidence" that Brown did the 180 days community service, especially since he was overseas, performing.

To make matters worse, the D.A. is also saying there are other possible probation violations, including:

-- The Frank Ocean fight at the recording studio
-- Brown testing positive for pot
-- Failing to obtain a travel permit
-- Allegedly grabbing and throwing a fan's phone in Miami
-- Throwing a chair through a window at "Good Morning America"

Business Matters: MP3 Stores Harder to Find as Google Search Removal Requests Accumulate

Legitimate MP3 links are becoming harder to find even as the RIAA has sent more than 3,400 removal requests to Google relating to approximately 10 million specific URLs from its search results. Legal stores like Amazon and Myxer, as well as legal streaming sites like YouTube and legal streams and downloads at music blogs, are buried under more illegal MP3 links than when Billboard.biz examined 30 artists in November.

Now, using the same 30 artists as before, it took an average of 11.06 search results to find the first legal search result of any kind and 26.84 search results to find the first legal MP3 store. In November, the results were 7.9 and 11.75, respectively. (Each search was conducted by typing in “MP3” and then the name of the artist. Two spellings were used for Ke$ha and P!nk.)

Not all search results were worse than in November. The location of the legal MP3 store in the search results rose in 13 of the 32 searches. For example, a link to Myxer was the tenth result this time, five spots better than the Amazon link at No. 15 last time. But more searches were worse than better, and some searches yielded frustrating results. The first link to a legal MP3 store from a Jennifer Lopez search was the 219th result.

Amazon was usually both the first legal and MP3 store link in the search results. Myxer was the top legal MP3 store twice -- it did not appear a single time in November. Amazon MP3 was one of the more frequently seen links -- but only because Amazon paid for the privilege. A link to an artist's page at Amazon MP3 was usually seen at the bottom of a page's search results. These ads will show up unless the user has blocked certain advertiser or has opted out of personalized ads.

As TorrentFreak notes, the primary targets of the RIAA's removal requests have been Downloads.nl, MP3s.pl and Filestube. People looking for MP3s might see a different name: MP3skull showed up at the top of 28 of 32 searches (it was tops in 27 searches in November).

Searching for the term "music" on Google is a different experience. Legal sites are commonly found when "music" and an artist name are used in a search. For example, the first 10 results for "Jennifer Lopez music" are two YouTube videos, her artist page at various portals, her website and the Amazon page for her album, "Love?" No MP3skull.com link in sight.

These removal requests may seem like somewhat of an anachronism since people are already shifting to streaming services, but downloads are still extremely popular. Digital sales were up 10% in the first four weeks of the year over 2012, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Last year U.S. consumers bought 1.34 billion individual tracks and another 117.7 million digital albums. As for the free side of the market, in just the first six months of 2012, there were 96.7 million downloads using the BitTorrent protocol (read: mostly illegal) in the U.S., according to Musicmetric.

DRAKE ANGERS LOS ANGELES NEIGHBORS, COPS CALLED IN

Young Money rapper Drake reportedly partied too hard over Super Bowl XLVII Weekend and forced his Los Angeles neighbors to call over police to settle down the commotion.

Details on what exactly transpired during Sunday's Super Bowl game have surfaced online.

It looks like Drake threw one heck of a 2013 Super Bowl party this weekend. Although the "Started From the Bottom" rapper was MIA from the official Super Bowl festivities in New Orleans, he made sure to make up for it with a shindig so loud that the cops came calling, E! News has learned exclusively. Sources told E! News neighbors were angry about the level of noise coming from the rapper's home and called police to complain about the loud party. Luckily, police let Drake off with only a warning even though they showed up at his home twice. No report was taken and no citation was issued. His rep has not returned a request for comment. (E! Online)

Additional reports claim this all went down in the early evening at his Los Angeles crib.

Drake had surprise visits from police over the Super Bowl weekend. The Young Money rapper, who just released his new song "Started From the Bottom", hosted a party for his friends at his Los Angeles home when cops showed up on his doorstep. Drizzy's bash which started around 5:15 P.M. was apparently too loud for his neighbors to handle. According to E! News, they were pissed off and called cops to complain about the level of noise. Authorities came knocking his door not just once but twice. (Ace Showbiz)

According to reports, Super Bowl XLVII became one of the top three most-watched NFL championships of all time.

The half-hour that included Beyonce's performance at Super Bowl XLVII was one of the most watched segments of the NFL championship on Sunday, hitting an average of about 104 million viewers, Billboard estimates, based on Nielsen data. Nielsen estimated 108.41 million viewers tuned in for the Super Bowl, making it the third-most-watched program in television history behind Super Bowl XLVI and Super Bowl XLV. Nielsen, heeding CBS's request, is not counting the 34-minute power outage delay in its ratings. (Billboard)

Heading into the weekend, Drizzy unleashed his "Started From the Bottom" anthem.

"My good friends, It has truly been too long. I assume you're all keeping well and making the most of this year that has been given to us. Today is the day to begin sharing my newest work with you. This is the first single off of my upcoming album. I feel sometimes that people don't have enough information about my beginnings and therefore they make up a life story for me that isn't consistent with actual events. My family and my second family (consisting of the best friends anybody could ever have) all struggled and worked extremely hard to make all this happen." (October's Very Own)

Check out Drake's "Started From the Bottom":

ADULT STAR & SAFAREE UNDRESS NICKI MINAJ CHEATING ACCUSATIONS

Former adult actress Beauty Dior has stepped forward to silence rumors and gossip which claim she had a one-night fling with Young Money rapper Nicki Minaj's alleged boyfriend Safaree.

According to Dior, the party did, in fact, take place but no illicit actions went down between her and Safaree.

The porn star accused of performing fellatio for money on Nicki Minaj's male "friend" Safaree, says it didn't happen. On Wednesday, a tabloid reported that Beauty Dior and Safaree hooked up at a recent house party after he offered her cash in exchange for sex. Safaree was quick to deny the rumor on Twitter, now Beauty is doing the same thing. In a radio interview with Atlanta station V-103, the porn star shot down the gossip. "Not true. I have no relationship with him. I don't even know him," she explained. "The only thing true about that whole thing is the party, but I didn't even know him ... we had no relations." (RumorFix)

The rapper has also hopped onto Twitter this week to address the bad press.

"Jus Found out a tabloid is trying to print a negative false story on me dis week Dnt yall got way more famous ppl to Worry about???," he tweeted January 28th.

"So krazy how when ders bullsh*t out der that the clarity of the situation wnt be put on blast but wuteva sounds good for media will be.."

"You people are f*cking sick... Mentally sick in yall heads..." (Safaree's Twitter)

Cheating allegations heated up the Internet this week involving Safaree and the former adult star.

Nicki Minaj is facing the ultimate betrayal and heartbreak as the new issue of Star magazine exclusively reveals that the outrageous singer's longtime boyfriend, Safaree Samuels, has cheated on her! The feisty American Idol judge's longtime music producer beau reportedly propositioned a number of young ladies recently during a party at a friend's house in Los Angeles. After being repeatedly being turned down flat, Star reports that Samuels eventually got lucky after finding a girl that agreed to fulfill his sexual desires - in return for a sum of cash! "[The party] was really wild," a fellow reveler tells Star. "It was packed with women, some of whom were doing Ecstacy, and Safaree was ogling all the girls from the moment he arrived. "Everyone recognized Safaree the moment he walked in, and all the women also recognized the fact that he's Nicki Minaj's man." Star reveals that the woman Samuels eventually got lucky with is former porn actress Beauty Dior. "She agreed to give Safaree oral sex - but for a price," a source at the party told Star. (Radar Online)

Back in 2011, Nicki's affiliate got linked to a romantic rumor involving now-pregnant ex-video vixenAmber Rose.

According to our insider, Amber Rose had an INAPPROPRIATE relationship with Nicki Minaj's boyfriend Safaree . . . and that she sent him NEKKID PICS of herself . . . giving her cooch the DUECES!!! The insider tells MediaTakeOut.com, "At Nickis birthday in Vegas on [December 9th] weekend, Nicki caught her boyfriend Safaree in Amber's room . .. she knew something was going on." And there's more, "Later to find out by going into Safaree's phone, [Nicki learned] that Amber was sending Safaree naked pictures of herself via bbm." (Media Take Out)

JUELZ SANTANA CALLS JOJO SIMMONS 'LIL GOOFBALL' AFTER DISS: "HAVE I JUST BEEN PUNKED?"

Dipset's Juelz Santana has responded to a new diss record fired his way courtesy of Reverend Run's son JoJo Simmons called "Holy Water."

Rather than take the diss serious, Santana simply laughed off the lyrical jabs.

"Lolol," Santana tweeted January 31st.

"Have I jus been punk?? wheres Aston!!! kill yaself shorty!!@RevRunWisdom"

"Lil Goofball"

"RT @truolskool: you wasn't popping off at true life like that keep it G n*gga > cause when sh*t real I don't do no Talkin! This is a joke" (Juelz Santana's Twitter)

JoJo's new diss record landed across music blogs Thursday (January 31) afternoon.

The oldest son of Rev. Run, JoJo, or Young Simmons, returns to the interwebs today with a new track aimed directly at the head of Juelz Santana. The track, "Holy Water (Juelz Santana Diss)", finds Mr. Simmonds spitting some barbed bars in which he speaks down on Mr. Santana for slandering his name while giving props to his Uncle, Russell. Man, I don't know what got into Young Simmons, but he definitely brought the heat on this one. (Stupid Dope)

On the track, JoJo responds to a line from Santana's new "Soft" song.

"Now how you gonna mention my uncle Russell, then disrespect his nephew," JoJo raps. "The industry forgot you, f*cker, you nothing special/Piss in a test tube, like Jigga, they can't knock the hustle/These n*ggas hate to love you/Simmons will not let you/Compare your money to my uncle, that's just disrespectful/You're not eligible..." ("Holy Water")

On "Soft," Juelz takes a minor jab, taunting JoJo's relevance compared to rap mogul Russell Simmons.

"Far as that dough goes," Santana raps, "I'm Russell Simmons, you Jojo." ("Soft")

Check out "Holy Water":

NEW MUSIC: HAVOC FT. ROYCE THE 5'9" - "TELL ME TO MY FACE"

It's dark and hell is hot, no, not DMX's album but the place where Mobb Deep's relationship is right now. Havoc, the beat making half of the classic crew releases a scathing track that can be viewed as a shot to his estranged partner in rhyme, Prodigy. It's a shame that the two longtime friends can't see eye-to-eye right now, especially when Havoc is producing hotness like this beat. Eminem's best friend (and former foe) gets busy on the dark soundtrack as well. One just can't listen to Havoc the same without thinking his lines are aimed at his other half of rap biz. Enjoy it for what it is though, a good song. Be on the look out for more dolo work from Hav with his 13album coming soon.