BT Launches Mobile Top-Up Kiosks

Self-service kiosks allowing people to top up mobile phones or buy new ringtones and logos will be trialled in parts of the UK in the New Year, telecoms giant BT has announced, according to scotsman.com.

"The kiosks have already been tested in Milton Keynes, Basingstoke and Derby, and will now be extended to shopping centres and retail outlets across the UK.

Paul Hendron, director of BT Payphones, said: “The new kiosks are easy to use and allow customers to top up their phones and buy the latest mobile content when it's convenient for them."

Guitar based hits not favoured for ringtones - untrue?

Since I don't have a comment section, and with Nick Foard's authorization, I'm publishing an interesting e-mail he sent me yesterday related to yesterday's post on an article from The Times Online, stating that ringtones present a challenge to Britain's rock bands. There is not a single guitar-based hit in the year's Top 20. Music critics claim that pop singles such as Britney Spears's Toxic are being created around a simple nagging riff with ringtone sales in mind.

Nick's e-mail:

Hi Emily

Your last story surprised me with the comment about Guitar based hits not
favoured for ringtones. We specialise and sell loads of Guitar based
Realtones. Guitar music isn't really well represented by polyphonic chipsets
as they can't make a real guitar sound. Where as Realtones can. One of our
biggest sellers is the Guitar riff from The Clash Should I Stay or Should I
Go.

The real problem is that lots of Rock or Guitar bands believe themselves to
be above ringtones and so don't allow permission for their music to be used
as Realtones. The artists have the attitude that they just want to make
music and don't want to be too commercial as this would ruin their hardmen
or political image. Where do they think their money comes from, magic money
trees or Commercial Record Sales!?!

Regards

Nick Foard
Managing Director
Hifi Ringtones

Ring rage on the rise

Irritating mobile phone ringtones have triggered workplace bans and even $5 fines for workers who breach the no-phone rule, reports The Australian News.

"An Australian Human Resource Institute report found that 54 per cent of employers preferred workers' mobile phones to be set to "non-intrusive" ringtones, or vibrating mode.

Nine per cent wanted use of mobile phones limited to personal emergencies and another 9 per cent wanted the phones banned outright during working hours.

And a Melbourne tyre manufacturer, South Pacific Tyres, banned the use of mobile phones by employees earlier this month. Workers who disobeyed the ban would reportedly be stood down immediately".

Ringtones drown out CD singles

The ringtone, an irritant to many, has become the music purchase of choice for teenagers after generating more than double the income of CD singles this year, reports The Times Online.

"Ringtones generated about £120 million of business during 2004, according to figures released today by the financial services company KPMG. Sales of CD singles continued to plummet, with recorded sales worth £55 million, down by 15 per cent.

With digital replicas of hits now available as “truetones”, the ringtones market is set to outperform CD singles and the nascent online download market in 2005.

The global ringtone market was worth an estimated £3 billion this year and contributed to Britain's youth mobile phone market valued at £3.2 billion. Ministry of Sound, the record label, estimates that it will generate £15 million of income from ringtones in 2005."

Interesting:

[...] But ringtones present a challenge to Britain's rock bands. There is not a single guitar-based hit in the year's Top 20. Music critics claim that pop singles such as Britney Spears's Toxic are being created around a simple nagging riff with ringtone sales in mind.

The year digital music became cool

[...] Wippit is one of the few legitimate sites to support the MP3 format but it remains a dirty word for the music industry desperate to eradicate file-sharing which they regard as its ultimate bete noir, reports the BBC.

"Wippit is due to launch a service next year that will allow users to download a complete song and then edit it themselves to create a personalised ringtone.

Experts say it is likely that mobile phones will increasingly have MP3 decoders fitted as standard and makers of digital music players will enter the telephony market. "

Wish for Reunification on Handsets

LG Telecom said Monday that a special music album, “Love”, songs wishing reunification of Korea can be downloaded free of charge on its music portal, Music On, reports Seong-ju Lee for Telecoms Korea.

"The songs in the album were sung by top singers in Korea and subscribers to LG Telecom can download the songs made in MP3 file or get streaming service at Music On".

Teens paying for ringtones, not songs

A funny thing happened this year in the digital music universe - teens were inspired to pry open their Hello Kitty wallets for 30-second ringtones while four-minute song downloads still couldn't shake loose a single penny, an interesting article written by Angela Pacienza in The Canoe.

"Ask the pretty brunette if she's heard of the much-hyped ITunes and she'll tell you yes, but she'd, "like, never ever use it."

"I wouldn't because I can get it for free," she shrugs, seemingly bored by the topic of downloading.

But ask her about ringtones and her face lights up.

She excitedly recounts having recently dished out "just two or three bucks" for Snoop Dogg's Nuthin' But A G Thang.

Does she recognize the irony in paying several dollars for a few riffs but helping herself to a whole song for nothing? Not really, she says rolling her eyes."

Code of conduct to ring changes

A code of conduct for mobile phone operators is to be launched in a bid to stop consumers being ripped off by misleading premium-rate services, reports The Scotsman.

"As of January 15, the voluntary code will force mobile phone service providers to clearly label the costs of the services they are selling.

The move comes amid growing concern that customers, in particular children, are being targeted by mobile firms to take on expensive services leaving them with huge monthly bills.

Latest figures show that one in four primary school children aged between seven and ten now owns a mobile phone.

Under the new code services must be able to be cancelled instantly if the word "STOP" is texted to the provider. Customers will also be alerted if they spend over £10 on any one service.

Any company breaking the code will be cut off from networks by the phone companies

Misleading premium-rate numbers, which are typically numbers beginning 09, are the biggest bugbear for consumers. For example, customers who think they are buying a single ringtone for £5 do not realise the small print commits them to monthly payments of £5 for a stream of ringtones.

Verisign wants to be king of ringtones

Verisign, the California-based company, famous for its Internet domain name registry, now wants to be king of ring tones and other mobile content, reports Investors Business Daily.

"The move could prove rewarding in 2005 and a logical fit for VeriSign's business, analysts say, though there are risks.

At the heart of the plan is Jamba, a German mobile content company VeriSign acquired in June. It sells ring tones for cell phones -- a market worth some $4 billion, according to the research firm Consect.

It will take some time for Jamba to pay off for VeriSign, analysts say. But it could add up big in the long run.

Ring tones and other content services, such as music downloads to phones, will help boost VeriSign revenue by 24% next year to $1.43 billion, predicts RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Breza."

Judgment issued in lawsuit for ringtone piracy against Konka

The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court issued its judgment in the Music Copyright Society of China (the society) verses Konka case regarding ringtone piracy in using a song titled "Kewang". Konka was ordered to pay RMB 6000 (USD 729) to the society and RMB 6650 (USD 808) for legal costs.

In October, the society accused Konka of setting the song of "Kewang" as a ringtone in its mobile phones. The society owned the copyright for "Kewang" and made a claim for compensation of RMB 200, 000 (USD 24,301).

The court said Konka had the right to use the song, but should make the payment as remuneration for its use. Konka was found not to have pirated the song, but to have neglected to pay for its use. Therefore, the court did not support the society's appeal for Konka to stop using the song.

Ma Yichao, Director of Permission Department of the Music Copyright Society of China, said, "We are not satisfied with the sentence, because we believe that the payment asked of Konka is too low. We reserve the right to appeal, and are currently discussing further action."

[via interfax]

BlingTones announces the world's first wireless record label

BlingTones, a division of Lagardere Active North America, a leading content provider in Europe - announces the world's first wireless record label.

While other ringtone companies provide snippets of previously existing commercial songs, BlingTones has signed hip-hop producers/artists Q-Tip, Rockwilder (Missy Elliot, Jay-Z, DMX), Denuan Porter (50 Cent, Eminem), Salaam Remi (Nas), Hi-Tek (Talib Kweli, Snoop Dogg), and more to create original 30-second "songs" available only through BlingTones. [via company press release]

A blast from the past - Boy George, pop icon of the 80s, singer, composer, producer and disk jokey all- in-one, was the first ringtone composer for cell phones. His first title was called "Sonic Trigger Ringtone" and was available exclusively to UK Vodafone subscribers.

Cellphones Play a New Tune

A general round-up article on ringtones and ringbacks with some industry figures from the WSJ.

"Cellphone ring tones, which have quietly become a 3 billion dollar industry, now come with a new twist: the ring-back tone.

The new ring-tone option enables customers to program the phone to play a ring tone for the caller, too, thereby effectively doing away with the traditional ringer altogether.

One potential glitch: Several wireless executives say some callers have hung up when they encountered what sounded to them like hold music, thinking that they've misdialed.

[..] Monophonic ring tones usually cost about 99 cents to purchase, while polyphonic tones can be slightly higher. Real tones or master tones are three times higher, costing around $2.99 each.

[..] Record labels get anywhere from 25% to 40% of this price. Music publishers also get a share, though it is unclear how big a slice. The rest of the revenue is split between the cellular-service providers and the companies that actually create the ring tones.

FlixTones

Leap Wireless has expanded it's Cricket Clicks suite of mobile applications with the launch of FlixTones -- a variety of downloadable quotes and soundtracks from movies to play as ringtones for their mobile phone, according to a company press release.

"In addition to enabling Cricket Clicksusers to select their favorite movie clips, FlixTones also allows subscribers to select the clips that best fit their family and friends. A call from mom may be signaled by the soundtrack from The Wizard Of Oz, while a clip from Old School might play when a life-of-the-party friend calls."

Sing Your Song, Ring Your Bell

KTF is to provide karaoke ring-tone service converting karaoke singing to ring tones and connection tones, reports Telecoms Korea.

"Korea's second largest mobile operator cooperates with Taijin Media, a karaoke system provider to launch karaoke ring-tone service in February 2005."

Related Karaoke articles and applications from around the world:

-- SK Telecom offers cure for tone deaf karaoke singers - The mobile tone-deaf cure consists of 3 parts such as diagnosing, tone-deaf curing and music treatment.

-- Mobile Karaoke Service Comes to U.S. - First International Digital a mobile content developer, has launched the first karaoke service in the U.S. for mobile phone users.

-- Karaoke on your phone - Vodafone Japan launches karaoke phone with embeded sing-a-long functionality.

-- Celcom introduces 'Mobile Karaoke' - Celcom Malaysia, the country's largest mobile phone operator, has introduced a new entertainment service dubbed the Mobile Karaoke for its subscribers with GPRS-enabled handsets

-- The latest in mobile content--karaoke - SingTel's new Mobile Karaoke service offers the operator's post-paid mobile subscribers full-length songs for download. These come with synchronized lyrics to prompt users singing along".

-- Nokia, Taito Teaming Up in Mobile Phone Karaoke - Nokia and Taito will reportedly collaborate in providing karaoke functions to cell phones.

-- Mobile karaoke machines - Irish technology company Alatto has developed a new java application called air.karaoke, that will let users download songs and lyrics, to create.

-- Karaoke ringtones - 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.

Musiwave Expected To Offer Downloads For Cellphone Users

In a move that promises to rapidly escalate the competition over the newest format for music sales, Musiwave plans to announce today that it had secured licenses to sell the catalogs of all four global music companies as over-the-air downloads to specially equipped cellphones. [via the WSJ].

"The tunes will be available in seven European countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Spain, throughVodafone Group PLC's advanced new wireless network.

The company says a library of 150,000 tracks will be available for download immediately, and plans to expand the number to 500,000 by June and to one million by the end of 2005."

Related articles on Musiwave:

-- Cell phones take iPod challenge

-- Pictones: the first multimedia ringtones

-- Great partnerships for Musiwaves

Virgin Mobile 'First Dibs' Locks Exclusive Ringtones

Virgin Mobile USA customers just love getting "First Dibs!". The wireless provider and Universal Music Group today announced a double-whammy mobile music deal to serve up exclusive access to ringtones from Ashanti and Ja Rule -- two of the power players in Def Jam's hip-hop/R&B line up.

"First Dibs has been a great hit for us. Following six months of success to date, we're moving ahead with our partners at Island Def Jam and UMG on another chart-topping offer," said Howard Handler, chief marketing officer of Virgin Mobile USA. "Our customers salivate over new ringtones and can expect us to continue to offer up the best of the best across a range of musical genres and labels."

Press release

Sprint Will Offer a Radio Service That Plays Music Over Cellphones

Today, Sprint will introduce a radio service that allows people to listen to music over their phones, whether through an earpiece or the phone itself, announces The New York Times.

The service, which will cost $5.99 a month, will let customers listen to commercial-free streams of music from channels including R&B/hip-hop, hit list, 80's, 90's, and a combined country and rock.

The radio feature, believes Spint, would enable users to have something to do with their phones when they are not using them to talk, play games or send e-mail.

Sprint is ratcheting up its programming as it hears the footsteps of potential rivals. It has taken the lead in creating video and audio programming to be streamed over phones, but that lead may not last long. It is expected that in January, Verizon Wireless will introduce content to be streamed over its own high-speed mobile phone network.

Hip-Hop Dominating Emerging "Ringback" Business

According to AllHipHop.com news, Hip-Hop dominated the top-sellers on T-Mobile's new ringback service, Caller Tunes.

"The “ringback” service allows customers to replace the ringing sounds callers hear when someone dials their number.

Of T-Mobile's the top ten most purchased Caller Tunes, Hip-Hop accounted for seven, including two tracks by Lil Jon & The Eastside Boys and his affiliated group Crime Mob.

The other three entries came from Marvin Gaye, Beyonce and Christina Aguilera".

The Recording Industry of Malaysia to to eradicate ‘truetone' piracy disease

The Recording Industry of Malaysia (RIM) is getting tough on "truetone" pirates, reports The Star.

"In the case of truetones, where the master version (rather than a ringtone version of a song) is used, a master recording fee is required for recording companies, something which music pirates are blatantly disregarding, the recording industry said.

RIM chief executive officer Tan Ngiap Foo said it plans to nip truetone piracy in the bud before it becomes an "epidemic."

In conjunction with the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, it has sent out more than 100 warning letters in the past week, and will be going on "as many raids as possible" in the future.

Tan estimated the percentage of pirated ringtones in Malaysia to be at about 90%. He could not give a breakdown for truetone piracy.

Ringtone downloads in the Asia Pacific region are estimated to be worth US$200mil (RM760mil)".

Google ad sense on Ringtonia

December is always a reality check with yearly hosting bills coming in, reminding me that blogging and other web activities are an expensive habit. So here goes a shot at Google Ad Sense with a lingering uneasy feeling that somehow I have just gone over to the dark side...

I thought I would post updates on earnings, but apparently there is a clause with Google where subscribers agree not to disclose such information, which is why I've modified this post (for anyone who may have read it earlier - apologies).

Full Track Downloads to Mobile Phones

Melodeo, Inc. and Warner Music Group (WMG) announced the signing of the first global agreement which allows consumers to securely download entire tracks from WMG's rich music catalog directly to their mobile phones.

Select U.S. mobile phone operators will begin implementing the Melodeo mobile music solution in 2005, according to a company press release.

Fine-tuning your ring is the latest thing

For all the buzz about custom ringtones within the music and wireless industries, the trend is in its infancy as a mass-culture phenomenon, reports The Seattle Times.

According to a survey of cellphone users conducted by market-research group NPD, only 14 percent of those who had phones with the capability to download ringtones had done so — still a long way from market saturation.

The ringtone business is really a revival of the singles market to us," Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's global digital group says. "People buy an individual song, and they use it for what we call personalization. They use it as an expression of their personal preference. It says a lot about you what ringtone you choose."

And there's no high-tech gadget better suited to individual self-expression than the cellphone. "The telephone always was an extremely personal instrument," says Paul Levinson, author of "Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium and How It Has Transformed Everything!"

Cell phones answer music players' call

After e-mail, Internet access and cameras, music will likely be the next killer application for cell phones in Japan, where online distribution is yet to catch on, according to The Japan Times Online.

"While cell phones may not become an instant threat to portable music players like Apple's iPod, their sheer volume -- some 85 million in Japan -- presents a vast potential pool of portable music-playing competitors.

Late last month, the country's second-largest wireless carrier, KDDI Corp., started a music downloading service for its au brand of mobile phones. Instead of offering the usual 30-second sample, however, the Chaku-uta Full (Ring Tone Songs Full) service sends the entire tune, just as online music services do for computer users, in the widely used MP3 format.

Owners of au's three latest 3G handset models can download a full song from a list of some 10,000 titles for about 300 yen a pop.

KDDI officials said the number of daily "chaku-uta" downloads might have already surpassed that of any online music distribution service for personal computers in Japan. They refused to quote specific numbers.

Label Gate Co., one of the largest domestic online music sites for PC downloads in terms of songs available, said it sold 270,000 songs in November.

The idea for chaku-uta came from the music industry a few years ago. Back then, "chaku mero" (ring-tone melodies) were the fad as phone makers gradually tweaked their handsets so they could handle increasingly elaborate chords.

Now chaku uta services are hugely popular, with some 130 million songs downloaded so far. That's nearly as many as the 150 million Apple has sold through the iTunes Music Store as of mid-October. The store opened in April 2003.

After starting with a mere 300 songs, some 70,000 chaku uta titles are offered today, covering just about every genre of music from pop to classical.

Avex Group Holdings Inc. said there were 12.5 million chaku uta downloads during the April-September period, compared with 5 million a year earlier.

The company's offerings include Ayumi Hamasaki's hit single "Inspire," which has inspired some 660,000 downloads -- more than the 420,000 CDs that have so far been sold.

What's behind the mania?

KDDI officials said few users are actually downloading chaku uta purely for use as ring tones. Instead, many are doing so to listen to songs with classmates and colleagues.

They attribute chaku uta's success to the sheer ease with which the songs can be downloaded. Unlike portable music players, cell phones don't need personal computers to download music.

Hindi Film ringtones

To satisfy the nation's thirst for Hindi music, MAX, the premium movies and special events channel, has launched Sing Tone, an interactive SMS service that will enable viewers to indulge in their love of Hindi film songs, reports Screen India .

"Sing Tone will allow viewers to download tunes on their mobile-phones even as they are watching the song in the movie being telecast on MAX. Viewers have to SMS “RT songcode” to 2525 to download a tune".

Napster to offer ringtones for mobile phones

Napster announced on Thursday that it will partner with Dwango Wireless and offer the Napster Mobile service for downloading ringtones for mobile phones, Los Angeles Business.

"The service, set to launch in 2005, will use an adaptation of the PC-based Napster interface for downloading the ringtones. The ringtones will be drawn from Napster's catalog of digital music."

Subscribers to the PC-based Napster service will receive special Napster Mobile promotions and offers for Napster downloads and subscription services."

2004 Billboard Music Awards Winners

The 2004 Billboard Music Awards were handed out last night Dec. 8 in a ceremony at the MGM Garden Grand Arena in Las Vegas and televised on Fox.

Ringtone of the year: "In Da Club," 50 Cent

Click here to view the full list of 2004 Billboard Music Awards winners.

Free Christmas Ringtones

In the spirit of giving, we (ZaptoPhone, ToneGuys, and Unwired Appeal are offering free Christmas Ringtones at free--ringtones.com.

In their own words: "No funny stuff, just free holiday tones (for as long as we can afford it).

Pick your favorite!

1st Noel / Angels Watch / Chestnuts / Choir of Bells 7 Deck the Halls / Frosty the Snowman / Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer / Hark the Harold Angels / Happy Jolly Christmas / Jingle Bells / Joy to the World / Let in Snow / Merry Little Christmas / The Nutcracker/ The Nutcracker March / The Nutcracker Part 1 / Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer / Sleigh / Oh Christmas Tree

T-Mobile Kicks Off Nationwide Ringback Service

T-Mobile USA is getting into the ringback tone fray with the introduction of CallerTunes, a service powered by Ztango. T-Mobile claims to be the first U.S. carrier to launch a ringback service nationwide. [via Wireless Week]

"In November, Verizon Wireless unveiled its Ringback Tones service, but the service is only available in its Southern California market at this time. With the help of Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Verizon Wireless is offering a catalog of more than 2,200 songs.

In October, Lucent Technologies introduced its MiRingBack application, which enables subscribers to create caller profiles and enables them to assign different tones to different callers. The first operator is use it is Telecom New Zealand.

Cell phone users provide musical interlude for callers

It's USA Today's turn to publish an article on ringtones and ringback tones.

"T-Mobile on Wednesday rolls out "Caller Tunes," which plays 40-second song snippets to your caller until you answer — at $1.99 a pop. Tunes range from Beyoncé's Baby Boy to holiday classics. Verizon Wireless began testing a similar "ringback" service in two California markets last month.

[...] Michael Gartenberg at market-tracker Jupiter Research thinks ringbacks could be a tough sell. "There are those who will love it, and others who find it annoying," he says."

Sing a song of ringbacks

This newest audio fix for cell phone users is a snippet of a song meant to replace those boring standard rings callers hear after they punch in a number, reports the New York Daily News.

"The new jingle has Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfman Jr. hearing the sounds of money.

"Ringbacks will be a much bigger business than ring tones", Bronfman told a packed room of investors yesterday at a media conference sponsored by UBS."