Ringback tones coming to the US and Europe

Wired has a story on ringback tones.

Excerpts

"Mobile-phone operators in the United States and Europe are poised to start selling ring-back tones in hopes of replicating the feature's solid success in several Asian countries.

According to the Yankee Group, ring-back revenues in Korea in 2003 reached well over $100 million.

This is the fastest takeup of anything ever offered in wireless," commented Mark Winther, group vice president of worldwide telecommunications at IDC. Winther characterized the ring-back market as being bigger than straight ring tones in Korea.

At least one major ring-back operator in the United States and Europe will launch by the first quarter of next year, according to Brough Turner, chief technology officer at NMS Communications, whose Hearsay technology fuels the ring-back services".

Orange joins forces with Warner Music

Orange has partnered with Warner Music UK to offer paid-for content to its phone owners, according to Revolution Magazine.

"Orange handset owners can buy ringtones of Warner Music UK artists for £3 each. They can also access gossip and artist news.

Previously, Orange's rival, T-Mobile, struck deals with record labels, including Universal and Sony, to launch a ringtone and download service, called «Screen Styles»". cf T-Mobile ties in with Universal Music and MTV.

Firm Launches Celebrity Greeting, Crank Call Services

Nextones.com has announced the launch of Celebrity Greetings and Crank Calls voice message services, reports Wireless Week.

Nextones.com says consumers can send 'Crank Calls or Celebrity Greetings' from the Nextones website, to their friends or family, or customize their phones with voicemail introductions from celebrities such as Enrique Inglesias, Eduardo Verastegui and impersonations from 'Saturday Night Live' cast member Darrell Hammond.

Some Examples (You can even schedule when you want it delivered so you can be around to see their reaction)

Search For Pornography
Hello, this is Abby Franklin calling from the Library. Our records show that while using School's computers, you have been searching the Internet for...

I'm Pregnant
This is Shanequa, but you probably don't remember me. We met last month at a bar, but you were really trashed...

Sexual Harassment
Hello, My name is Harriet Bernstein. I am lawyer representing a former friend of yours...

I.Q.
Hi and my name is Dr. Martin and I am calling from the Institute of the Mentally Challenged. We have been reviewing...

Enrique Iglesias
Hey, what's up this is Enrique Iglesias. A mutual friend gave me your name...

Vodafone live! cutomers downloaded 10 million polyphonic ringtones

Celebrating it's first anniversary, Vodafone live! revealed that it's customers downloaded in excess of three million games and over ten million polyphonic ringtones, according to a company press release.

«Medley Tunes»

Nellymoser, inc., a leading provider of speech and audio solutions to the mobile music distribution, on-line gaming, Internet multimedia and toy markets, announced today the availability of its mobile music distribution solutions for the new generation of mass market Java handsets, according to Wireless Developer Network.

"Medley Tunes enables subscribers to listen to rich, high quality music clips on their cell phone, while Medley Tones provides consumers with a fast and easy way to preview and purchase recorded music ringtones from the convenience of their phone.

Using the standard hardware, audio components and operating system software that the manufacturers' already ship with their Java phones, MedleyTunes™ and MedleyTones™ do not require that any dedicated chipsets, specialized hardware or specific embedded players be present on the cell phone in order to deliver a premier audio experience to the subscriber."

Ringtone revenues under threat from cover versions

The fledgling master recording ringtone industry - long seen as a major revenue source for the record companies and mobile operators - is in danger of being substantially damaged by aggregators planning legal cover versions, according to New Media Zero via Moco News.

"Ringtones incorporating tracks by signed artists are expected to provide new revenues for record companies for the first time, as previously only music publishers have received revenue.

But NMA has found that several third-party aggregators are planning to make cover versions of popular songs and use these to create ringtones instead. Such a move would not be illegal as long as the aggregator paid the standard blanket licensing fee to the collection societies MCPS/PRS.

The record industry said it's prepared to take on anyone who tries to 'pass off' its artists' works.

"Trying to sell anything, including soundalikes, using artists' names will infringe trademarks owned by us or the artists,' said Barney Wragg, VP of e-Labs at Universal Music International. 'In the case of trademark infringement or passing off, we would vigorously protect the rights of our artists."

But third-party aggregators are not so certain there's anything the record companies can do.

'I think it'll happen regardless of what they do,' said Del Dias, MD of Art Empire Industries, a dance music online specialist which sells and creates ringtones for major and independent labels. 'How is a soundalike different to a polyphonic?'

Gilles Babinet, founder of Musiwave, one of the first companies to create real-music ringtones, said, 'I believe it's a major threat. Frankly, I don't know how to deal with it at this point.'

Nokia Launches Gift-a-tone Service

What a great idea, offering a ringtone as a gift!

Nokia announced the launch of its «gift-a-tone» service for its handset users who are subscribers of Hutch, Orange, Airtel and BPL Mobile in India. The service enables users to send ringtones via SMS. The ringtones are priced at Rs 10 (22 cents) for monophonic tones and Rs 15.90 (35 cents) for polyphonic tones. The offer is valid till November 5, according to Voice&Data.

Midiringtones has signed a licensing agreement with Fox Music

Midiringtones has signed a licensing agreement with Fox Music enabling mobile users to download their favorite Fox theme song - such as NFL - download a classic tune or a new favorite taken from their library of popular television, sports themes or hit motion picture scores or soundtracks.

Disney To Offer Character Voices As Ringtones To Sprint

Walt Disney Internet Group today announced that it is developing character voice ring tones that will bring the familiar voices of popular Disney and Disney/Pixar characters to mobile phones in the U.S. by the end of the year, and will be available to PCS Vision customers. [Yahoo BusinessMoco News]

Cingular Wireless Kicks-Off Fall Promotion with Series of NCAA Football ringtones

To celebrate the Fall season, Cingular Wireless has announced a variety of enhanced features for the mobile football enthusiast, including fight song ringtones and college graphics.

Also available, NCAA Football Alerts - text messages with scoreboard information -, kickoff reminders, trivia and mobile games. [PR Newswire]

Company shares in ringback tones profit

This is interesting, South Korea-based Orion Group - a diversified company with interests in confectionery, media, film, the dining businesses - and famous in China for its chocolate pies, is to begin offering value-added mobile services before the end of this year, according to Interfax.

Orion Group has made a deal with China Mobile "to launch a promotional campaign for the "Coloring Ring Back Tone" service, which can substitute songs, music, or other sounds for ordinary caller ring tones. When someone calls a mobile phone using the service, that caller will hear music instead of the usual ring tone.

Orion will print ads promoting the service on its packages of chocolate pies".

In essence this company is promoting ringback tones on one of it's products, and then sharing in the profits of the downloaded tones.

MusiKube Tries To Ring Up Impulse Buys

Musikube's music recognition technology, similar to Shazam's, accessible from any mobile phone, will appear in beta version in November, reports Wireless Week.

"The Mobile Music Identification (MMID) solution is designed to give mobile phone owners answers to those burning questions like, 'What's the name of this song?' and 'Who sings this?' By dialing a toll-free number and holding their wireless phone near the music for 15 seconds, MusiKube's Media Platform and patent-pending fingerprinting technology will identify the song, artist, album, etc. MusiKube then sends a text message to the wireless handset. Users will have access to MusiKube's Web site to order songs, and other related musical products, such as ringtones."

For more on Musikube, cf previous post in Ringtonia.com, Music in Motion.

Ringtone POP Chart - WSJ

Something I picked up from the WSJ, though the article doesn't say for which market(s) this pop chart applies to or who conducted the survey:

"It looks like 50 Cent is finally facing some competition in the ringtone arena. The superstar rapper maintained his dominance in September, accounting for the top four music downloads.

But Jay-Z, who had only one song on the list in August, was right behind with three of the top 10 spots.

"Frontin," a Pharrell song featuring Jay-Z, jumped up to No. 6 from No. 36, while Beyonce's "Crazy in Love," which also features Jay-Z, climbed to No. 7 from No. 58.

Bone Crusher made the biggest splash. The Atlanta rapper's "Never Scared" shot up to No. 5 from No. 97 in August.

Once again, hip-hop dominated. For the second straight month, the genre provided all 10 songs on the list". -- by Josef Federman, 10/01/03

Splash out on the new DJ phone

Philips is launching a new phone for all aspiring DJs -- and an exciting competition -- with a massive daytime dance party in Gauteng South Africa, according to the Mail & Guardian online.

"Philips new phone is aimed at the lucrative youth market. The Philips 530, whose selling point is its onboard DJ function (not that the hi-fi stereo handset, multimedia messaging service and camera accessory are unimpressive).

Users can compose and store up to nine tracks at a time, using a variety of beats and instruments. These can even be used as ringtones".

New singles formats to save the charts

A raft of new music single formats are shortly to be released in the UK in an effort to reverse the dramatic decline in sales over the last two years, including ringtones, reports the BBC.

"James Gillespie from Official UK Charts Company told BBC World Service's The Music Biz programme that the changes were "part of what's going to be quite a long-ranging review of the singles market in the UK".

The plans included a "ringtone single," a pocket-sized single, and a new type of release that would contain even more data than current multimedia CDs, which usually include video and weblinks.

And interesting, according to Gillespie: "Kids don't mind spending £3, £4 on a ringtone, but they're not so keen to spend the same amount of money on the master recording."

Just for the record, Nylon Beat, a top Finnish girl band, was the first group in May of 2000 to release their new title, “Not Guilty”, as a ringtone before the CD was available on the market. The teaser played over the radio proved so effective that it became No. 1 the first day it hit the stores. And now, whenever the group performs the song in concert, fans hold up their phones and ring along with them. cf Nylon Beat, releases first ringtone teaser

The latest in mobile content--karaoke

The sight of people talking into their mobile phones as they walk down the street is normal. But the Singapore's largest telco SingTel is hoping that users will take to staring at their handsets devices and singing, according to CNET.com Asia.

"SingTel's new Mobile Karaoke service will offer the operator's post-paid mobile subscribers full-length songs for download. These will come with synchronized lyrics to prompt users singing along".

Other Karaoke applications have developed around the world.

-- In August it was reported that Nokia and Taito would collaborate in providing karaoke functions to cell phones. cf Nokia, Taito Teaming Up in Mobile Phone Karaoke.

-- Irish technology company Alatto has developed a new java application called air.karaoke, that will let users download songs and lyrics, to create mobile karaoke machines. cf previous post in Ringtonia

-- Japanese ringtone providers allow subscribers to 'practice' songs. This service has been widened to include images, and users can send up to four photos which can be 'watched' while the audio clip is playing. cf Karaoke ringtones.

The latest in mobile content--karaoke

The sight of people talking into their mobile phones as they walk down the street is normal. But the island's largest telco SingTel is hoping that users will take to staring at their handsets devices and singing, according to CNET.com Asia.

SingTel's new Mobile Karaoke service will offer the operator's post-paid mobile subscribers full-length songs for download. These will come with synchronized lyrics to prompt users singing along.

Intel, Sony to Bring Music, Video to Cell Phones:

Sony Music Entertainment and chipmaker Intel plan to announce on Thursday that they will work together to improve Sony's lineup of music, images, videos and other content for portable devices that use Intel chips, according to News.com via Moco News.

"At first, the partners will concentrate on adapting Sony's digital music and video content so that it plays back at PC quality on portable devices such as handhelds, according to Intel. Later, they plan to develop PC-based multimedia content".

Phones Could Take P2P Legit

Eric Lin for TheFeature.com, comments on previous news story about major music labels launching a mobile song-swapping technology. He points out that "the service, exclusively for mobile phones, allows peers to trade files, but requires a central server to unlock them before they can be used. And as mobile users are already accustomed to paying for content, creating a p2p system should be met with little resistance, making publishers happy without upsetting users too much".

Retro Ringtones: the Pink Cadillac of ringtone libraries

Thomas Dolby Robertson, President of Retro Ringtones, was one of several people interviewed for an interesting piece that aired on the BBC's Today Show Monday morning, talking about the cultural effects of ringtones, and featuring some of Retro's, including their 'Endangered Species' bird tones.

Dont miss taking a virtual spin on this website. In it's own word, "Retro is the Pink Cadillac of ringtone libraries". I love their logo and their original categories such Animal Mating Calls (cows, dogs and what? oropendolas...)   and Great Lies of History (Nixon's "I am not a crook" and Bush's "Read My Lips" and others). Great!

Labels launch mobile song-swapping tech

Warner Music Group and Bertelsmann's BMG Entertainment introduced on Monday a new P2P antipiracy technology that enables music fans to download songs onto a mobile phone and share the music with other phone users, reports News.com.

"The new digital rights management (DRM) technology, called OMA (object management architecture) DRM, was developed by three-year-old technology company Beep Science of Oslo, Norway, the music giants said in a statement.

The technology works on the concept of a restricted peer-to-peer network in which owners of mobile phones equipped with Multimedia Message Service, or MMS, can send and receive pictures and sound clips to and from other mobile phones.

With OMA DRM, the music labels can collect revenue for each song that's downloaded from a central computer server and for those that are swapped between mobile phone users, said Jan Rune Hetle, chief executive of Beep Science".

Ringtoning flash-mob set for tonight targeted at David Blaine

Wow. The first Flash-mob involving ringtones.

Illusionist David Blaine - who has endured starvation suspended from a crane by the River Thames in a glass box for the last 44 days - is to be flash-mobbed tonight as he enters his final week of confinment, according to Organisers of the Flashblaine event, which is due to run for just three minutes. They say they hope to create the biggest flash-mob in the world, according to Ananova.

They want people to sound their mobile phone ringtones together at exactly 7.44pm and then chant "what goes up, must come down" at Blaine."

Londoners have sent thousands of text messages to illusionnist David Blaine since the start of his stunt, which were projected on a large screen at Tower Bridge so that he could read them.

Pop Patriotism

Everyday nearly there is an article in the Indian press on how popular ringtones are and how they make a statement about how trendy, traditional or up on the latest Bollywood movies Hindis are. Today's article in the Indian Express goes much further, claiming ringtones, cellphone panels handbags and 'statement' tees are a new form of patriotism and show "new ways of declaring your love for the country".

"Filmi patriotic music has also taken off through mobile ringtones. In August alone, BPL mobile recorded more than 15,000 downloads of songs like Bharat Humko Jaan Se, Maa Tujhe Salaam and Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon. "

Haloween Tones

I do have a life, for those who wonder, but I must say, I enjoy checking out what's new on Midiringtones and see what they are up to. Right now they're featuring a special on Haloween ringtones and graphics. Click here to listing to a Haloween theme. Hey Midiringtones, where's your "SCREAM" tone? That's a classic.

First «Ringtone of the Year Award»

Urban World Wireless, a leading content provider for urban entertainment news and lifestyle and Mobile Entertainment Forum, the global trade association representing mobile entertainment industry leaders, announced the first ever «Ringtone of the Year Award», according to Rap News Direct

"Rap Artist 50 Cent of Interscope Records will be honored with the first ever «Ringtone of the Year Award» on October 22 in Las Vegas, during the CTIA event.

The ringtone version of the song «In Da Club» has been downloaded over 500,000 times, making it the most successful downloaded ringtone in U.S. mobile entertainment history.

According to research firm IDC, ringtone sales have skyrocketed to a $5 billion business in Japan and Europe. In the U.S., ringtone sales, while trailing Europe and Japan, are growing rapidly and are forecasted to reach $50 million by the end of this year, twice the dollar volume of CD singles".

In tune with the times

The Times of India reports on the rage of having a mobile phone with ring tones of the latest pop songs and Bollywood tunes, affecting people from all wakes of life, businessmen, students, housewives, bureaucrats, executives, everyone is now “within range”.

And according to this article, ringtones are so popular in India, that "the number of ring tones in the model of a cell phone has become a decisive factor while choosing a handset, especially for the younger generation”.

The ringtone market and its opportunities

For those who can't make it to Vegas, I'm quoting this anyway for present or future reference, as someone to contact in the ringtone and mobile content industry. For interview requests or filing in your PDA, contact Richard Eittreim, 425-577-0201, reittreim@versaly.com. [Business Wire]

Versaly Entertainment VP Sales and Marketing Michael Kurtzman will be a guest speaker at the Mobile Entertainment Summit at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment on the Direction of the Wireless Entertainment Market in Las Vegas on Monday, October 20, 2003.

Mr. Kurtzman will discuss the ringtone market and its opportunities. As part of the panel session on ringtones, Mr.Kurtzman will cover the success of the Versaly voice ringer collection as it relates to the future outlook of the ringtone and ringback tone industry. Mr. Kurtzman will also speak about devices and market conditions paving the way for additional mobile entertainment, including wallpapers, screensavers, skins, graphics, alarms, master recording ringtones and other personalization.

Mr. Kurtzman will be available for media interviews in advance.

mmO2 to launch music downloads on to mobile phones

UK operator MM02 is reported to have entered into a deal with five of the music industry's big labels including Universal and EMI to sell chart music downloads on to mobile phones.

Under the deal, mmO2 will next month launch a service enabling its mobile phone users to initially access about 5,000 tracks.

The operator will charge fixed-line Internet users US$0.99 to download a track, although mmO2 is expected to charge upwards of £1.50 (US$2.50) a song. [Telecoms.com]

A Pop chart of favorite ringtone songs

An interesting quote from Mobile Data Association spokeswoman Kate Marriott reported on SiliconValley.com: "In September, we are launching a pop chart of favorite ringtone songs, based on information from mobile phone companies". Hasn't hit my radar yet, something to look out for. I have a call in to Kate Marriott, check back later.

Update 09.10.03. Spoke with Kate Marriott this morning, pop chart should be ready in November and it's availability and whereabouts will be communicated through the usual business wire channels.

Loudeye Signs Contract to Provide Wireless Music Content for Cellus USA

Following last week's post on Cellus USA's «MyCaller» ringback service, now available to US Mobile Operators, Loudeye announced it will be providing rich media music content to support Cellus USA's ringback services. cf Press Release today from Loudeye and Cellus USA.

The application known as ringbacks enables a wireless subscriber to select a rich media song or audio clip to play in between the time a user dials a phone number and when the party answers, replacing the standard ringing sound. This service can be provided to any subscriber, regardless of handset make and model.

Ringback tones have already generated significant interest from international wireless users, particularly in China, Malaysia and South Korea.

The Yankee Group estimated that ringback tones in South Korea alone generated wireless carriers approximately $91.4 million last year, a figure that is expected to grow in South Korea and quickly expand into the U.S. and European markets".