December 4, 2008
Amazon launches music downloads
Online retail website Amazon has launched a UK music download service. The BBC reports.
Amazon MP3 will sell tracks from 59p (86 cents) and albums from £3 ($4,40).
The new music store will offer more than 3 million songs that will work on any digital music player, including Apple's iPod.
The move puts Amazon in direct competition with Apple for a stake in the growing market of online music sales, which in Britain alone was worth an estimated £163m $239m) in 2007.
What Will the Music Industry Look Like in Five Years?
This sounds silly, how on earth could there be such a thing as "The Best Free Ringtone On Earth"?
iRingPro, makers of sophisticated iPhone ringtones for professionals and advanced mobile users, has issued an open call for submissions for "The Best Free Ringtone On Earth". [via PRMac]
The company intends to curate a living list of the very best, legal, free ringtones in the world. Once the list has reached critical mass, iRingPro will open public voting and the best of the best will be officially crowned "The Best Free Ringtone On Earth".
December 3, 2008
New Jay-Z song leaks, old videos go mobile
Jay-Z fans have both new and old music to enjoy this week.
"Brooklyn (Go Hard)," the rapper's collaboration with Santogold from the "Notorious" soundtrack, leaked online Monday (December 1), and on Tuesday nine vintage Jay-Z videos became available for mobile download on Thumbplay.com.
The Thumbplay deal includes videos for "Blue Magic," "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," "Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up)," "Excuse Me Miss," "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)," "I Know," "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," "Money, Cash, H**s" and "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)."
[via Reuters]
December 2, 2008
Online seen claiming 41 pct share of U.S. music market
Digital music sales account for 18 percent of the U.S. music market and that figure will grow to 41 percent in five years, Forrester Research said in a report released on Monday.
The report titled "US Music Forecast, 2008 to 2013" also forecast that 55 percent of U.S. online consumers will pay to download digital music in 2013.
[via Reuters]
December 1, 2008
RingtoneFeeder offers Christmas on your iPhone theme
RingtoneFeeder.com has announced their "Christmas on your iPhone" theme. 24 unique iPhone optimized Christmas ringtones.
The subscribers will be receiving 6 iPhone ringtones every week for 4 weeks in December via iTunes. All the ringtones will be made available in two versions, with and without a ringing sound embedded.
RingtoneFeeder is a new and innovative approach to ringtones offering a subscription model which automatically installs new original ringtones on the iPhone via iTunes every week.
[via Press release]
November 27, 2008
University students create MP3 ringtones for Bachelot of Arts
Australia's Bachelor of Arts (music industry studies) students have been creating MP3 ringtones as part of their course this year, titled "Ringtone sales and subscriptions now account for more than 10 percent of global music sales and it's a market that's growing dramatically each year", says RMIT music-industry lecturer Barry Hill.
November 26, 2008
Another label sees big digital-music growth
On Tuesday, Warner reported that digital sales in the quarter ended September 30 grew 27 percent to $167 million, up from $131 million during the same period last year. News.com reports.
Ever since the onset of digital music and the creation of file-sharing sites, such as Napster, the major music companies have slowly been forced to shift from physical CD sales to digital downloads. It appears now that digital revenue is making up for some of the losses in disc sales.
Brits prefer to listen to music on mobile phones
Mobile phones are more popular than CD players when it comes to listening to music, says the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA). PC Advisor reports.
"Never in the history of the music business have we seen a format take off like this before. There is now no doubt that MP3 is the fastest-growing music format of all time, faster than vinyl, cassette or CD," said Russel Coultart, chairman of ERA Digital.
November 22, 2008
Verizon’s Song ID app downloaded 10 million times
Verizon Wireless announced that their song-identifying app, Song ID, has been downloaded for 10 million times.
Furthermore, since it was launched in May 2007, users have requested more than 100 million titles using Song ID.
[via intomobile]
November 21, 2008
Radiolicious Brings AM/FM Radio to iPhones
In the war between radio and Internet-based technologies, Radiolicious, a software application developed by MySimBook.com, is trying to build a business model by striking back on broadcasters' behalf.
Radiolicious is a free downloadable player for iPhone users. Once on their wireless handsets, Radiolicious allows them to stream audio and Web content from any AM/FM station that is signed up to the service, at no cost to the iPhone user.
[via Cellular News]
November 20, 2008
Sprint Launches "Rock The Phone" Ringtones
Rhino partners with Sprint to launch RockThePhone.com which offers over 100 ringtones from some of classic rock's greatest bands, including The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, ZZ Top, Ramones, and more.
Wireless consumers nationwide can visit www.rockthephone.com for access to over 100 classic rock ringtones for $2.99 each. For a limited time, the website will offer a free ringtone of The Doors' "Love Me Two Times," and Sprint customers will have exclusive access to eight ringtones until December 11.
[via e-mail press release]
November 18, 2008
Pupils set for 'ringtone lessons'
According to the BBC, children in England and Wales are to be given lessons in how to avoid scams and hidden charges when downloading mobile phone ringtones.
It has created a lesson on ringtones for the information and communication technology curriculum.
Phonepay Plus received more than 8,000 mobile-related complaints in 2007/8.
That is an increase of 108% on the previous year. In the first three months of 2008 alone, the watchdog received more than 4,500 complaints.
