August 18, 2004
Ringtones are music to record labels' ears
The IHT has a great article on ringtones.
"Ringtones have proved to be such a lucrative side business for cellular phone companies that record labels in the United States have decided they want a piece of that revenue.
In the past few days, Warner Brothers Records began showing commercials on the music cable television channels MTV and MTV2 for a set of voice-greeting ringtones recorded by members of the punk band Green Day.
Music and cellular industry executives said this was the first time a record label had paid to run its own ads for the digital snippets in the U.S. market.
The commercials, which are part of an advertising campaign to promote the release on Sept. 21 of "American Idiot," the band's first album in four years, are a milestone for an industry in which many are looking to products other than compact discs to steady the shaky revenue of the music market.
To some artists and music executives, the marketing of ringtones suggests the subversion of music by marketing ploys. "There is a sense among some that it bastardizes the music, takes away the sincerity and the original intent of the artist," said the artist manager Tony Dimitriades, who represents performers like Tom Petty. "With where we are today, there seems to be a notion that anything goes and who cares."
But Tom Whalley, the chairman of the Warner Brothers label, part of Warner Music Group, said that advertising the phone tones was just one part of his label's shift from mere disc factory to marketer of artists' lifestyle products. "We're in the culture with each and every one of our artists," Whalley said. "The ringtone can help connect that fan to the artist. If it's done with taste, I don't think it crosses that line where its commerce over art."
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