NEW YORK, June 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SiriusXM, Pandora and Stitcher today announced the launch of three exclusive limited-engagement channels, a groundbreaking original podcast, and specialty music programming in honor of June's Black Music Month.

SiriusXM will kick-off Black Music Month with two channels saluting groundbreaking Black artists with The 2PAC Channel and The Prince Channel.  SiriusXM has collaborated with these iconic artists to deliver unique radio listening experiences that can only be found on SiriusXM.  Pandora's popular Black Music Forever Station will also extend to its own SiriusXM channel, Black Music Forever Radio.

For details on SiriusXM's limited-engagement channels and additional SiriusXM specialty programming, please see below:

The 2PAC Channel (ch. 104) will take listeners on a comprehensive journey through the genius of 2PAC's full music career. Hear about the iconic artist's life and music, first-hand, with exclusive commentary from his close friends and peers, including E.D.I. Mean, an original member of 2PAC's group The Outlawz.  The channel will also feature an original series where artists and celebrities will guest DJ their personal favorites from the legendary artist.

The Prince Channel (ch. 333) will feature music from his vast catalog over the decades, ranging from his signature funk, slow jams, psychedelic rock and everything in between.  The channel will also spotlight Prince favorites from those who knew him best with Purple Playlists, B-sides and live performances. 

Black Music Forever Radio (ch. 105), which originated and exists as a Pandora station, will spotlight the latest hits from current and breaking Black artists in hip-hop, R&B and Pop.

The Beatles Channel (ch. 18) will debut a four-part series, A Shot of Rhythm and Blues:  Exploring The Beatles and Black Music on June 7 at Noon ET.  Hosted by Meshell Ndegeocello, the series will explore the relationship between The Beatles and Black music, uncover The Beatles' earliest R&B heroes, and expose the many Black artists that went on to cover the music of The Fab Four.  New episodes will debut at Noon ET on Mondays throughout the month of June.

bpm (ch. 51) and Diplo's Revolution (ch. 52) will feature music and exclusive audio from the top Black artists in Dance music such as, Aluna, DJ Sliink, UNiiQU3, and more.

Heart & Soul (ch. 48) will spotlight "soulful soundtracks" each weekend in June with music from culturally iconic movies including Waiting to Exhale, Black Panther, Judas and the Black Messiah, and more.  The channel will also feature live performances from Grammy-nominated artists, including Golden Globe winner and Grammy nominated artist Andra Day.

Hip-Hop Nation (ch. 44) will celebrate the anniversaries of past releases from 2 Chainz, Drake, Gucci Mane, and J. Cole, with album specials on their respective release dates.  The channel will also debut a new show, Meez-O-Estates, hosted by 21 Savage's manager Meezy and crew, dedicated to a no-holds-barred conversation about the state of hip-hop music and culture.  Rising artist, Hotboii will kick off the Summer with a "Summer Wave Special," highlighting 10 of his favorite Summer bops. HHN will also spotlight empowering Black music with a new playlist, Black Music Matters, each week and air a special rewind of the best performances from the channel's original "Nation's Next Virtual Concert" series.

Kirk Franklin's Praise (ch. 64) will offer fans an interactive experience, with the chance to engage with Kirk Franklin to build a song during Virtual Improv with Kirk Franklin. The channel will also present A Juneteenth Celebration with Kirk Franklin, featuring song and narration from Franklin.

Listeners can also expect take-overs from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (The Groove, channel 50), H.E.R. (The Heat, channel 46), Monica (SiriusXM FLY, channel 47) and a special from The Temptations, to celebrate their 60th Anniversary (Soul Town, channel 49).

SiriusXM, Pandora and Stitcher will also present a new original podcast, All Music Is Black Music, with the first episode debuting today. The podcast, hosted by Selema Masekela, with narration by Dr. Dwandalyn Reece of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, explores how African American music and culture have shaped the wider contemporary music landscape.

Each episode takes listeners on a journey beginning with an artifact from the NMAAHC's collection. Through interviews with artists, authors and scholars, listeners will discover the stories of Black musicians and cultural creators who have shaped today's trends, styles and genres. The first episode explores the influence of girl groups in pop music featuring a conversation with Kelly Rowland.  New episodes will be available bi-weekly featuring interviews from artists including Ne-Yo, St. Vincent, Regina Spektor, and more. All Music is Black Music is now available on the SXM App, Pandora, and Stitcher, and will also air as a weekly program on SiriusXM's Volume (channel 106) beginning June 15, at 1 pm ET.

Additionally, Pandora launched a Black Music Month microsite today, to give listeners an opportunity to discover, experience, and participate in the celebration Black music. The microsite includes:

Content Quiz: Listeners can answer a series of questions that will direct them to the newly launched Modes on the Black Music Forever station, sponsored by Target, for the month of June. The Modes include:

• The Philly Sound: Hosted by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, two of the most prolific producers and songwriters in all of music, The Philly Sound commemorates the 50th anniversary of their legendary label, Philadelphia International Records. The duo will share their personal stories about some of the best soul classics ever recorded and early beginnings of Black Music Month with music from The O'Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, Phyllis Hyman and more.
• Future Fire: A cross-over of SiriusXM's The Heat, Future Fire will feature some of the best emerging hip-hop and R&B acts including Mooski, Coi Leray, Giveon, and more.
• Africa Now: An Afro-Pop special highlighting the best artists throughout Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa that epitomize the Black experience of hailing from the birthplace of civilization, featuring music from Burna Boy, Wizkid, Davido, and more.

Pandora Playback with Moneybagg Yo: On June 24, as part of Pandora's virtual event series, Pandora Playback will feature an in-depth conversation with rapper Moneybagg Yo. He'll discuss his artistry, recent album A Gangsta's Pain and his music legacy, plus a special celebration of HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) music and culture. Beginning June 17, listeners will be able to RSVP for the free event on the microsite.

Spoken word video: Voiced by multi-talented artist Shanelle Gabriel, Pandora showcases and highlights the influence and impact of Black music through the power of spoken word by taking the audience on a historic journey through the decades of deep-seeded roots Black music and culture.

For a full broadcast schedule of specialty programming celebrating Black Music Month across SiriusXM please visit: https://www.siriusxm.com/black-music-month. To access Pandora's microsite, please visit: pandora.com/blackmusicmonth.

From now through June 8, non-subscribers can get most of the above-mentioned SiriusXM channels, as part of the SiriusXM Listen Free Event.  During this event, SiriusXM will feature a sampling of over 100 SiriusXM channels including ad-free music of every kind, plus sports, talk, news and entertainment available to non-subscribers on inactive SiriusXM radios in their car and on the SXM App, with no credit card required. The 2PAC Channel, The Prince Channel and Black Music Forever Radio will be available to these listeners only on the SXM App.  Go to siriusxm.com/ListenFreeEvent to learn more.

About SiriusXM

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is the leading audio entertainment company in North America, and the premier programmer and platform for subscription and digital advertising-supported audio products. Pandora, a subsidiary of SiriusXM, is the largest ad-supported audio entertainment streaming service in the U.S. SiriusXM's properties, which include Pandora and leading podcast company Stitcher, reach more than 150 million listeners, the largest addressable audience in the U.S., across all categories of digital audio – music, sports, talk, and podcasts. SiriusXM's acquisitions of Stitcher and Simplecast, alongside industry-leading ad tech company AdsWizz, make it a leader in podcast hosting, production, distribution, analytics and monetization. SiriusXM, through Sirius XM Canada Holdings, Inc., also offers satellite radio and audio entertainment in Canada. In addition to its audio entertainment businesses, SiriusXM offers connected vehicle services to automakers. For more about SiriusXM, please go to:

www.siriusxm.com.

About Pandora:

Pandora, a subsidiary of SiriusXM, is the largest ad-supported audio entertainment streaming service in the U.S.  Pandora provides consumers a uniquely-personalized music and podcast listening experience with its proprietary Music Genome Project® and Podcast Genome Project® technology.  Pandora is also the leading digital audio advertising platform in the U.S. Through its own Pandora service, its AdsWizz platform, and third party services, such as SoundCloud, the Company connects brands to the largest ad-supported streaming audio marketplace in the country. Pandora is available through its mobile app, on the web at www.pandora.com, and integrations with more than 2,000 connected products.

This communication contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future financial and operating results, our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with respect to future operations, products and services; and other statements identified by words such as "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimated," "believe," "intend," "plan," "projection," "outlook" or words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond our control. Actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results and the timing of events to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements:  the COVID-19 pandemic is adversely impacting our business; we face substantial competition and that competition is likely to increase over time; our efforts to attract and retain subscribers and listeners, or convert listeners into subscribers, which may not be successful, and may adversely affect our business; we engage in extensive marketing efforts and the continued effectiveness of those efforts is an important part of our business; we rely on third parties for the operation of our business, and the failure of third parties to perform could adversely affect our business; we may not realize the benefits of acquisitions and other strategic investments and initiatives; a substantial number of our Sirius XM subscribers periodically cancel their subscriptions and we cannot predict how successful we will be at retaining customers; our ability to profitably attract and retain subscribers to our Sirius XM service as our marketing efforts reach more price-sensitive consumers is uncertain; our business depends in large part on the auto industry; failure of our satellite would significantly damage our business; our Sirius XM service may experience harmful interference from wireless operations; our Pandora ad-supported business has suffered a substantial and consistent loss of monthly active users, which may adversely affect our Pandora business; our failure to convince advertisers of the benefits of our Pandora ad-supported service could harm our business; if we are unable to maintain revenue growth from our advertising products, particularly in mobile advertising, our results of operations will be adversely affected; changes in mobile operating systems and browsers may hinder our ability to sell advertising and market our services; if we fail to accurately predict and play music, comedy or other content that our Pandora listeners enjoy, we may fail to retain existing and attract new listeners; privacy and data security laws and regulations may hinder our ability to market our services, sell advertising and impose legal liabilities; consumer protection laws and our failure to comply with them could damage our business; failure to comply with FCC requirements could damage our business; if we fail to protect the security of personal information about our customers, we could be subject to costly government enforcement actions and private litigation and our reputation could suffer; interruption or failure of our information technology and communications systems could impair the delivery of our service and harm our business; the market for music rights is changing and is subject to significant uncertainties; our Pandora services depend upon maintaining complex licenses with copyright owners, and these licenses contain onerous terms; the rates we must pay for "mechanical rights" to use musical works on our Pandora service have increased substantially and these new rates may adversely affect our business; our use of pre-1972 sound recordings on our Pandora service could result in additional costs; failure to protect our intellectual property or actions by third parties to enforce their intellectual property rights could substantially harm our business and operating results; some of our services and technologies may use "open source" software, which may restrict how we use or distribute our services or require that we release the source code subject to those licenses; rapid technological and industry changes and new entrants could adversely impact our services; we have a significant amount of indebtedness, and our debt contains certain covenants that restrict our operations; we are a "controlled company" within the meaning of the NASDAQ listing rules and, as a result, qualify for, and rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements; while we currently pay a quarterly cash dividend to holders of our common stock, we may change our dividend policy at any time; and our principal stockholder has significant influence, including over actions requiring stockholder approval, and its interests may differ from the interests of other holders of our common stock; if we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel, our business could be harmed; our facilities could be damaged by natural catastrophes or terrorist activities; the unfavorable outcome of pending or future litigation could have an adverse impact on our operations and financial condition; we may be exposed to liabilities that other entertainment service providers would not customarily be subject to; and our business and prospects depend on the strength of our brands. Additional factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, which is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and available at the SEC's Internet site (http://www.sec.gov). The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this communication.

Source: SiriusXM

Media contact:

Angela Burke at SiriusXM
angela.burke@siriusxm.com

Carolina Dubon at SiriusXM
carolina.dubon@siriusxm.com

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SOURCE Sirius XM Holdings Inc.