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Muzak Holdings LLC is a company, founded in 1934, that is best known for distribution of music to retail stores and other companies. The word "Muzak" has, in popular usage, broken free from its corporate parent and become a catchall generic term (often pejoratively applied) for easy listening, MOR, or elevator music—indeed, become an epithet for banal, derivative, or repetitive music. In the late 1990s, however, the Muzak corporation rebranded thoroughly, and today hardly any of the music Muzak distributes consists of re-recorded instrumental versions of popular songs. * The company focuses on selecting and playlisting existing recordings. For many years, Muzak held a virtual monopoly in the field of background music for businesses. However, the advent of alternate music delivery technologies provides business owners with more options. Both US satellite radio companies have repackaged their service for business use, as XM For Business and SIRIUS Business. These services, by virtue of higher look angles and site diversity resulting from concurrent broadcasting from multiple satellites, are less susceptible to rain fade than Muzak's dish-based technology. Satellite radio's lack of contracts (Muzak typically requires a three-to-five year contract *) and lower price points have positioned it to challenge Muzak's dominance in the business music arena *. Like Muzak, both satellite radio providers' business subscriptions include the payment of required royalties to performing rights organizations ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. According to EchoStar, Muzak's distribution provider, Muzak's business music service is broadcast on rented bandwidth from Echostar VII, in geostationary orbit at 119 degrees west longitude. In recent years, the company has experienced serious problems, losing over $9 million in 2Q 2006 alone *. The company's current trend has it losing more subscribers than it adds and is in its 11th consecutive year without turning a profit. *
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