December 22, 2004
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.
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