August 26, 2004
Hip and hopeful
Neil McIntosh, in an article for The Guardian, reports on how the mobile phone world does not just want to support the music business, but wants to become a part of it.
"The mobile business is as keen on ringtones as its customers, because we are willing to pay comparatively large amounts for them. On our PCs, we can download a full track from an online music store for around £1 - often less. Walking down the high street we can buy a physical CD single for £1.99.
Yet, on mobiles, customers are willing to pay £2.50 for an often unconvincing ringtone arrangement of a tiny portion of a song, just to project a little bit of personality every time someone calls us."
The only people unhappy with this arrangement are the record labels - they are more keen on full song downloads, and for excerpts to be used for ringtones and ringbacks, because they collect royalties.
Combine this with mobile phone makers, who make money from us upgrading our handsets, and networks, who want us to download more over their networks, and suddenly there are a lot of people eager to see music downloads start happening. "
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