For one, I’m intrigued by the persistence of place, of musical “hotspots,” within the satellite radio universe. This carries on a long tradition of radio connecting listeners to musical and cultural centers. One notable and recent example of this was Sirius XM’s multichannel coverage of the fourth annual Governors Ball, which took place over three days in on Randall’s Island in New York City this past weekend.

“We’re excited that people across the U.S. will be able to experience the diversity and depth of the lineup on multiple channels across Sirius XM,” explained Yoni Reisman from Founders Entertainment, the company that produces the festival. A number of “marquee performances” were played over the weekend on channels including The Heat (Janelle Monae, Outkast), Outlaw Country (Neko Case), The Joint (Damian Marley), Hip-Hop Nation (Childish Gambino), BPM (Skrillex, Disclosure) and Sirius XM U (Damon Albarn). Performances were broadcast live and replays were scheduled throughout the weekend.

Listening from a kitchen in Toronto, Ontario, I could hear the noise of the crowd building as Janelle Monae’s set began with Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra, known commonly as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. When festival-goers heard Monae introduce “Cold War” with a speech about discrimination, so too did Sirius XM subscribers.

Satellite radio is delivered to a private, personal space. Often within an automobile but also to laptops or smartphones for those who pay the added monthly fee of $4 for online access. Many listeners are connected to the internet and, thus, satellite radio fits nicely with Michele Hilmes’s characteristic of radio today as “soundwork,” in which, radio must now be understood as “the entire complex of sound-based digital media that enters our experience through a variety of technologies and forms.” As satellite radio becomes more mobile through the ability to listen via smart phones and laptops, programming extends into online spaces and listeners are presented with new visual platforms for interacting with DJs and content. Satellite radio moves with the listener and local boundaries are practically nonexistent. But even as Sirius XM operates on a transnational scale, beyond radio’s former borders, an essence of radio’s pre-digital identity is increasingly prominent in the satellite radio universe, that of providing a shared cultural experience.

Between satellite channels and mobile, individual listening practices, is the persistence of place and the transmission of musical performance sites. The Governors Ball broadcast constructs a radio experience that enables listeners to engage from a distance through new media, continuing the tradition of radio bringing music from centers to private spaces – from the home, the car, and now a mobile space within which one is bound to a smartphone or laptop.

However, we also hear how privatized spaces and experiences are transmitted, especially as music festivals are critiqued as focusing too heavily on branded experiences. Another important critique to raise in this instance is one of exclusivity. Festivals sell out, they cost a lot of money, and often require travel time and expenses. In a preview of the weekend’s musical offerings, Sirius XM explained that “the exclusive broadcast, showcasing a diverse line-up, will include Jack White’s performance, which comes days before the release of his anticipated second solo album, Lazaretto.” While satellite radio overcomes these obstacles to some extent, it also requires a subscription fee. Accessibility is limited, but as subscription television becomes increasingly watched and revered, premium content delivered by subscription radio is not a surprising development.

Given that music festivals are becoming a larger component of the music industries and a greater source of income and promotion, I am certainly interested to hear how satellite radio continues to transmit the sounds of live musical performances.

This past weekend some 18,000 fans, not including hundreds more staff and performers, gathered in Chicago’s Union Park for each of three days and nights of the fifth annual Pitchfork Music Festival. Despite temperatures in the 90°s and the fact that most of the indie rock, hip-hop, and electronic music performers on the bill were hardly household names, the sold-out crowd crammed into the small 11-acre urban park to enjoy live performances by 45 musical acts across three stages. The sight of many thousands of fans coming together in a city park or open field has become an increasingly common experience in the U.S. at a time when the music industry is widely proclaimed to be suffering. How is that exactly?

It is well established at this point that the recording industry is hurting big time. But the concert industry has been much more resilient. Granted, live music this summer has had its share of troubles as well: numerous shows on headlining tours by the likes of the Eagles have been canceled or postponed due to poor advance ticket sales, the resurrected Lilith Fair tour cut 10 dates for similar reasons, and Live Nation, the largest concert promoter in the U.S., recently announced a projected 10% income drop below last year’s earnings. According to the concert industry trade publication Pollstar, ticket sales are down about 15% so far this year, and that hit is being felt strongest amongst the “Top 100 Tours.” In other words, it is the big, expensive stadium tours from chart-topping mainstream acts – for which even the lowest-priced tickets often run into the hundreds of dollars – that seem to be going the way of the CD. Smaller acts, though, are weathering the economic slump much better.

Contrary to industry trends, events like Pitchfork – annual multi-day outdoor rock/pop music festivals – have steadily grown in number and popularity over the past decade, and 2010 is shaping up to be a banner year for many music festivals. In the past decade, Pitchfork along with Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Stagecoach, Ultra, Electric Daisy Carnival, and Sasquatch!, to name but a few, were all founded and quickly achieved considerable success. Earlier this year, Coachella recorded its highest attendance in the event’s 11-year history, while Bonnaroo’s attendance was up over the past few years’. Austin City Limits, to be held in October, sold out its three-day passes in a mere 14-hours back in April – before even announcing any performers. Pitchfork – which is a sell out every year – sold out its three-day passes in under a week, breaking last year’s record of two months. With few exceptions, the demand for outdoor music festivals is through the roof.

Moreover, many of these festivals are finding success by targeting niche audiences. The something-for-everyone approach that has been the modus operandi of most large festivals is proving to be less effective (see: Lilith tour), as is the practice of spending huge sums on a few marquee headliners. For instance, Coachella’s bookers purposefully focused on filling out the lineup with “relevant younger bands” this year. Meanwhile, Sasquatch!, the Washington state based festival held in May, sold out in record time without any recognizable mainstream headliners; its headlining acts were the indie rock draws My Morning Jacket and Ween. The electronic music festival the Electric Daisy Carnival drew a record 135,000 people to its two-day installment in LA this year, despite little advance media attention or big names outside the dance music community. Numerous other below-the-radar festivals, such as FYF Fest in Los Angeles and Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas, fill their stages entirely with indie, punk, hip-hop, and experimental acts largely unknown beyond underground circles. Even if the music is eclectic, the audiences come from easily identifiable subcultures. Indeed, the scale of a Pitchfork or All Tomorrow’s Parties is relatively small and the atmosphere is so casual, most everyone in the audience sharing similar tastes (for better or worse), that it almost feels like an indie rock summer camp.

This strategy of curating festivals that appeal to specific musical genres or subcultures is cost effective for organizers and provides attendees with more bang-for-the-buck, which benefits all parties during these hard economic times. Furthermore, it insures a built-in audience of dedicated music fans, rather than trying to appeal to a broad mass of casual fans who may like one or two headlining acts but not care for any of the undercard. In this way, it reflects various trends in the music industry, such as social networking, vinyl, and fan-funded recordings, that favor narrow over mass appeal, community-building, and more direct interaction between fans and artists.