«ColorRing»

This article in TheFeature.com, picked up on Moco News is all about a new breed of venture-backed entrepreneurs who are building the future of mobility.

One of the companies mentioned which caught my eye is WiderThan.com, a Korean company that develops services and solutions for wireless Internet markets.

One of its services is a Ringback service, called "ColorRing," -- which became a fabulous success, initially launched by SK Telecom -- which enables subscribers to select or create a music piece (a pop song, a film music theme, or an entertainer's voice) or a short message that the caller will hear, instead of a ring signal, until the subscriber picks up.

Specific music pieces or messages can also be designated for specific callers. "ColorRing is a huge revenue generator for operators," says Jonathan Kim, WiderThan.com's vice president for global marketing.

Hear Hear! to the attention of my Swiss Editors who turned down a proposal for a ringback tone article, as Swiss operators don't have plans to launch such a service.

More on Rinbacks in Ringtonia's special category on this subject.

Shazam's SongMail promotes Sting single

Polydor Records UK is the first label to use Shazam's "SongMail" service, which enables subscribers to send friends a personalised text message attached to a song clip, to promote the new Sting single «Send Your Love», according to 10characters.org.

"It represents the first time a record label has used the ubiquity of mobile phones to distribute and promote an artist in this way," says Tim Porter, Shazam's U.K. marketing director. "It spreads a viral awareness of the track."

New categories on Ringtonia

I've opened some new categories in Ringtonia to make finding tunes and tones easier. Real Music (where to find music recognition technology, real tunes, streaming music), Sound Tones (looking for weird sounds? bullet hit, snore, run, traffic jam...), Animal Tones (wild animals from the wild or a frog in a pond) and Voice Tones (name ringers, footballers or sumo stars, speech excerpts from J.F.K., Nixon, Reagan, Lou Gehrig and others).

Ringtones on eBay

I knew you could find anything on ebay, but I didn't know you could find ringtones. Mostly CD's of ringtone software, but some CD's offer collections of artist ringtones (Michael Jackson, Aaliyah), specifying you will need a data cable to add these items to your phone.

Music in Motion

Identified as the "next killer app" in wireless technology by Intel Developer Forum delegates, Musikube is an entertainment solutions company established two years ago by music and technology senior executives to find ways to use new media and converging technologies to increase consumer buying.

The music industry hopes that MusiKube's wireless technology, which enables consumers to capture their musical interest "whenever they come across it", will arrest the growth in music file sharing by creating the opportunity for impulse buying. [unwired.cc / The Christchurch Press]

One of the technologies offered by this company, called Vista Services, allows customers to identify a song heard on the radio (a music recognition technology like Shazam), but takes it one step further for camera phone users, allowing them "to scan a barcode or unique symbol in a store, at home, in a magazine, or on the street. Users can then access music information, reviews and samples and order the CD to be delivered to their home".

I'm not sure I understand how that works, "scanning" a barcode, does that mean taking a picture and sending it off somewhere? If anyone has any idea, feedback appreciated.

Ring in the attitude

In India, with almost every hit film, a theme or popular number becomes a ringtone. This article from Mumbais Newsline, describes how seasoned cell phone users - usally young - look for variety compared to first-timers - usually their parents - who are often content with in-built ringtones.

"Priya Dalmia is a classic example. While the 23-year-old ad-film producer and her brother Pallav are constantly competing to download the hipper tones, their parents are content with in-built ones. But Priya sure has taken the trend one step further, by assigning different ringtones to her regular callers, ‘‘to recognise who's calling''.

This reminds me of one of my favorite stories of last year, What Your Ringtone Says About You.

The Future of Wireless Music

Rafat Ali on Moco News has linked to a great post on Reiter's Wireless Data Web Log entitled The future of wireless music: User control, packaged services. Ringtones, polyphonic tones, true tones and beyond, explained.

About Ringtones

Encyclopedic About.com explains some (not all) of the new ringtone features in the most recent phones, such as the differences between Voice Ringers, Audio Musical Ringtones and Polyphonic Ringtones.

Why ringtones will save American Civilization

Scott Murff in an insightful article in mjuice, analyses the success of ringtones in Japan and why they are off to a slow start in the US.

"Why is the US ringtone market the way it is? The responsibility lies with US carriers. One thing that surprises me is how seldom the wireless carriers in their national advertising properly market ringtones. Like it or not, ringtones make money and yet most wireless advertising fails to push the data services people pay for or want the most. Pay attention the next time you see a carrier advertise data services and see what they're focusing on instead.

The barrier for American ringtones goes beyond marketing. Some carriers are hesitant to allow third-party companies to field their own ringtone service brands instead opting for a carrier-branded selection. That's certainly a far cry from NTT DoCoMo's encouragement of hundreds of unique content providers listed on its menus.

In addition, some delivery mechanisms for ringtones in the US are at times awkward. There are intermediate software components, alarming messages like "Are you really, really sure you want to start incurring charges", and a clumsy menu offering. It's a far cry from Vodafone Live! content services and menu layouts.

What's most disappointing is that this is not about high-tech and hardware, but rather adopting the labor intense care required to nurture content services. NTT DoCoMo was built on 9.8kbps transmission speeds, capable staff and the guts to turn over 90% of revenues to no-named, self-financed start-ups. Many US carriers (and a few big European ones) have been unable to find the humility to help content suppliers get up an running in wireless market and treat as equal partners, not seeing that prepping and hand-holding are keys to getting third-party services up to speed. Call it the fear of wireless nation-building if you want."

Ringtones and Real Tones on Textamerica.com

Favorite moblog Textamerica.com has added ringtones and graphics. Mobile users can download monophonic or polyphonic ringtones and (sexy) voice tones.

Au Cell Phone Music Proves Popular despite High Price

From Moco News: The CD music downloading service for KDDI cellular phones has been very popular since its debut in 2002...Music downloaded through the service, called Chaku Utah, can also be used as cell phone ringer melodies, prompting some subscribers to spend as much as 1,000 yen a month on the service.

In Tune with cell phone music

Excerpt from an MSNBC article on the music industry and digital distribution.

"Technology is creating new markets for music. Music giants are banking on an exploding U.S. market for dialing up music on cell phones—in effect, you would use your phone as a portable player. It's already a multibillion-dollar business in Europe and Japan.

Last week Sony's Lack presided over a meeting to set up a division dedicated to the service.

Music companies have already dabbled in this new business with ringtones—songs from artists used as phone rings.

Industry forecasters have projected that the business will soar in the United States to $790 million in 2008 from $94 million this year.

Warner Music and others have already signed agreements with wireless carriers like Sprint and AT&T. Since this spring, fans have purchased 360,000 ringtones by Warner Music star Sean Paul at about $2 each."

Get 25,000-watt music via your mobile phone

An experimental live concert was held last week at the annual Ars Electronica festival, in Linz, Austria where performer Tim Didymus conducted a live concert featuring music and sounds generated entirely on-the-fly from a mobile phone application.

US-based Tao Group is behind the technology, called Intent Sound System (iSS), a suite of audio technologies that makes it possible to relay music composed live and in high quality through a mobile phone. [Economic Times] via [Moco News]

Cell phones have joined the orchestra before. For more on ringtone concerts around the world, cf Ringtone Concerts category.

Virtual Protest Ring Tone... and other suggestions

What a fabulous suggestion, on Don Park's Daily Habit's blog, to create a Virtual Protest Ring Tone in addition to a stop RFID Moblog , (cf Virtual Protest Moblog)

"If I was organizing it, I would create a Virtual Protest Ring Tone, something that say something about the protest, a jingle or a chant, whatever.  Let people show their support by downloading it and installing it on their cellphones so people around the supporters will notice and ask: Why does your phone say STOP RFID instead of ringing?

An obvious variation is "Howard Dean for President" ring tone."

This really opens up opportunities for ringtones and ringback tones such as TheFeature.com's suggestion for company jingles. Who said ringtones were just for kids?

Ringing Back With More Noise

I pick up everything I can on ringbacks and here is a wonderful explanatory piece from TheFeature.com, detailing the history of the South Korean technology hit. "More than a third of SK Telecom's 16 million subscribers have signed up for the service, paying an average of more than USD 2 per month for it. One estimate puts the total spent in the country on ringback tones in 2002 at about USD 90 million, with the figure expected to increase sharply this year.

Interesting, TheFeature points out that for carriers, the services could serve as a perfect breeding ground for viral marketing. Since the tones are played to everyone that calls the number, regardless of their own carrier or if they're on a mobile or land line, ringback tones can quickly become a strong service differentiator. The novelty of the service will undoubtedly lead a caller to ask "What was that?" allowing the first carrier in a market to offer the service a tremendous jump on its competitors.

Companies could also use the service as a marketing tool, offering their own ringback tones featuring advertising jingles or messages from celebrities, just as some brands now give away ringtones.

Ringback services have recently been launched in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and China, US carriers are expected to roll out ringback tones in time for the Christmas season, with Europe by early 2004.

"Taps" ringtone

As America pays tribute to 9/11 victims and sorrow overwhelms us again, I wondered if there was a "Taps" ringtone. There is, on Matrix M. It's the saddest tone you'll ever hear.

Verizon Wireless and Ztango Team to Provide Customers First Premium SMS Content Service

Now Verizon wireless customers can download high-quality polyphonic ringtones, screen saver graphics and more using the new "123" Premium SMS Content Short Code, reports Yahoo Business.

Verizon Wireless customers can register to use TXT Ringtones online at vtext.com or freeup.com.

Child Squealing with Delight Ringtone

Not much real news so far today on ringtones, so I've gone back to what is becoming one of my favorite places, MidiRingTones.

Under a category called "reactions" you will find sound tones such as a "female" or "male horor scream", an "ahhh crowd" or "hooray crowd" which brings on of course a "booing crowd", and this one which will definetely bring a smile to anyone who hears your phone, a "child squealing with delight" tone.

Ringtone for biology majors

I was in Paris this weekend, and on my way home, waiting at Easy Jet's crowded lounge at the gate, this woman's phone rang (though "ringing" is not accurate to describe the (loud) sound it made) startling all passengers. Click here to hear what it sounded like and download if you like drawing attention to yourself.

Ringing cell phone lead to jail sentences

This really does seem quite extreme... an Indian employee of the state education department has been sentenced to three days in jail and fined US$34 for allowing his phone to ring when attending court, causing disruption. And he wasn't the only one, during his sentencing, another phone ring was heard, this time owned by a police officer, who was charged with the same jail sentence and fine. [Cellular News]

Old Fashion Phone Ring ... and "Human" Sounds

I've been looking all over for this, the sound of an old fashion phone ring for a cell phone, which a friend said he had heard in a movie line, and it really made quite an impression. Well here it is on MidiRingTones.

There are even several rings to chose from. Click and listen! Also of note, the sound of a European phone ringing, an antique cash register and an antique alarm clock.

This one, also on MidiRingTones, is something my son has been seeking for desperately, following Wired's article entitled Whoopie-Cushion Ring Tones are Big Biz.

Click on Air Escaping and there's more, for anyone under 13, under "human sounds".

People who don't follow ringtones don't know what they are missing... it's so much fun.

Sony Ericsson Sponsors the "Experience Music Project"

This Fall, in a five-part behind-the-scenes look at music's top artists including concert performances at Seattle's Experience Music Project (EMP) in Sky Church, Sony Ericsson will be presenting 60 minutes of pure rock and roll.

Along with great music, "Experience Presented by Sony Ericsson" gives viewers the opportunity to hear the stories behind some of their favorite bands and the hits that made them famous.

Sony Ericsson will not only be the title sponsor, but viewers will get to see the T616 and T226 mobile phones up close and be given the opportunity to download photos and ringtones from the show, which will be made available through AT&T Wireless' mMode deck, according to Business Wire.

First Mobile Music Conference, to be held in Miami

Favorite blog editor Rafat Ali (paidcontent.org and moco.news ) sent me this address and I sure wish I could go <sigh>. It will be the first conference adressing the production, protecting and monetizing of music for the mobile market. The Mobile Music Conference, MMC 2003, will be held November 14 in Miami.

"Featuring key executives from mobile carriers, labels, talent management agencies, technologists, solution providers and artists, MobileMusiCon is the first event of its kind solely focused on the challenges and opportunities for music industry executives seeking to maximize the potential of the mobile market".

Music for the Masses

This is probably the most complete overview I have ever read on the ringtone market and music on cell phones. It's a must read. Free registration is required to access the article from Telecoms.com which I discovered thanks to Rafat Ali's Moco News. It's worth the 2 minutes it takes to fill out the form. Hopefully the author will forgive me for quoting so extensively.

"In the mobile space, music services must support more than the ability to listen to songs on the move. Music must be part of the statement users make about themselves. "Music fans tend to move in tribes, and the viral nature of communication via mobiles is a very good fit when it comes to people's behavior and their love of music," says Thomas Dolby Robertson, a 1980s synth-pop artist and driving force in the mobile music industry.

More importantly, music is a consumer magnet. Users download ringtones to personalise their phones; they congregate in chatrooms to talk about favourite artists; they participate in music voting, entertainment and promotion campaigns; they send song snippets to friends and dedicate tunes to loved ones on special occasions. As Robertson aptly puts it: "Users reach to the mobile to create and communicate the music that is the soundtrack of their lives." And, analysts say, if companies in the mobile space regard this year as a ramp-up period, then they can cash in on a huge market opportunity."

[...] BWCS predicts the next 8-12 months will see a steady stream of new services around music. Interactive voice response services (IVR) such as song dedication and on-demand artist interviews to music recognition services that allow users to identify, tag and eventually purchase music via the mobile have already made the mainstream. Moreover, handset manufacturers such as Sony Ericsson and Motorola, anxious to encourage the replacement cycle, are also moving forward with ambitious schemes to offer users an "out-of-the box" music experience complete with embedded ringtones and logos.

PUMP UP THE VOLUME: Unleashing Revenue Potential with Mobile Music Services is a BWCS report by Peggy Anne Salz that focuses on the business models and strategies companies are pursuing to corner the mobile music market. The report examines operator offerings in the pipeline, includes case studies, and reveals how media companies plan to push the market forward.

What the Web needs: A ringtone search engine

From the daily requests I get in the comment section of Ringtonia, from viewers looking for specific ringtones, it's so obvious that what the Web needs is a ringtone search engine. Where anyone looking for a title of a song or an artist, a sound or a musique genre, would just type in the words and then be offered the opportunity to narrow down their search according to their phone model and operator. And have this service deliverable by text message as well.

The only tune search I ever heard of rendering querried titles by SMS, is Indian mobile operator Airtel's, Ring-N-Fun, but it's search-specific to the operator's tune data base. If anyone knows of another such service, let me know!

personal calls: new 'ringbacks' entertain your callers before you answer

There is really nothing in this article with regard to ringbacks that Ringtonia hasn't linked to before, but it's a good sign that media coverage is raising awareness to ringbacks which have hardly been introduced outside South Korea. Services were scheduled to launch end of August in China and Malaysia and in the U.S. and Europe later this year.

"Since the youth market is the target, there are natural marketing events around which this could be promoted - like back-to-school time and the holidays," says Demers. "The kind of penetration rates that have come out of SKT with this service launch has been very impressive - and we think it could take off here."