NPR Music: All Sponsors Considered

NPR Wednesday announced it would be rolling out a new digital music service to serve up its extensive library of public radio music. Set to launch in the first half of next year, the service is being developed to “create a unified place to showcase all genres on present and future media platforms,” according to the NPR press release.

I e-mailed NPR VP for Communications Andi Sporkin about it (and to my knowledge, she hasn’t blogged the virtual chat, either.) Though they’re far from determining details, Sporkin assured me “There will certainly be terrific sponsorship opportunities” on the new music site. When sponsorships are available, they’ll be offered through NPR’s Sponsorship division, which also manages its on-air, online, e-mail newsletter, podcasting and RSS sponsorship offerings, she added.

Sporkin didn’t answer any questions I had about whether the music content would be offered for free or if there’d be a payment (or a donation?) involved.

As a longtime NPR junkie, I can’t help but wonder when NPR, and PBS for that matter, will lose the “underwriting” and “enhanced sponsorship message” labels and call ’em what they are: ads! Sorry, had to say it.