Effanel Deal Enables Xm For Live Broadcasts, Remotes

XM Satellite Radio has acquired Effanel Music, a New York-based mobile and remote recording company. Effanel will be renamed XM Productions-Effanel Music, founder Randy Ezratty tells Billboard.

Founded in 1981, Effanel has recorded live performances from such events as the Grammy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards and concerts by U2, Dave Matthews Band, Santana and Madonna, among many others.

More recently, Effanel has worked with XM to provide live broadcasts of events including Phish's three-day Coventry Festival and the Vote for Change finale concert, both in 2004.

The acquisition, terms of which were not disclosed, demonstrates XM's commitment to live content, according to executive VP of programming Eric Logan.

CONSISTENT QUALITY

Logan says that live music programming "is an integral part of what we do to differentiate ourselves from other radio."

"When you talk about live content, origin points and things of that nature," Logan adds, "you figure out quickly who the pros are in this area. It didn't take long before we found out that there was one name that kept coming up, time and time again, that was the reason why the live content was always sounding so good. It was Randy's company."

Ezratty says he was ready for a change, despite a banner year for Effanel.

"It was time to reinvent this thing and develop a new model that had opportunities that went beyond my vision and the abilities of a specialty company," he says. "So I took advantage of the momentum and the kind of year we were having and reached out to a number of different entities."

In addition to landing XM as a client, Ezratty had also become a subscriber to its satellite service.

"I really immersed myself in the service and became addicted," he recalls. "It's extraordinary. At the same time, they had had a good experience with us on a few jobs and were focusing on getting some consistency in their live programming and making a statement—establishing in the artist community that they were seriously committed to serving artists."

Effanel's flagship recording truck, known as L7, will be renovated and its equipment upgraded.

The Neve Capricorn digital console will be replaced by a Digidesign ICON, Ezratty says. As with brick-and-mortar recording studios, Digidesign's ubiquitous Pro Tools platform is a primary recording medium for Effanel; the company owns seven systems. The ICON, Ezratty adds, will offer greater compatibility among engineers and studios working with Effanel.

Despite its new name and affiliation, Effanel also maintains a degree of autonomy: It will continue to record concerts for CD and DVD release as well as provide services for broadcasts unrelated to XM.

"Our mandate," Ezratty says, "is to continue to be profitable, continue to provide our services to our existing clients and, most important, to continue developing XM's image in the music community as a quality-conscious content provider."

Hank Neuberger, a Chicago-based Recording Academy trustee who has worked with Effanel on the annual Grammy Awards telecasts, says the acquisition illustrates satellite radio's rapid evolution. "Here's the future of radio distribution acknowledging their need for high-quality, unique live music content by partnering with the premier mobile recording company," Neuberger says.