Asia's ringback tone craze

Red Herring writes about Ring back tones (RBT) - nothing really new for anyone following this column, but it's a good recap. One interesting point not covered here before, is about companies acquiring rights for particular artists for exclusive ringback tones - this is new.

"Subscribers to the service in China are expected to more than triple to 65 million customers this year from 20 million last year when the service was launched by China Mobile. In South Korea, where the service has been available since 2002, a whopping 40 percent of cellular subscribers use ringback tones offered by carriers SK Telecom, KT Freetel, and LG Telecom".

[...] RBT has helped to take up the slack left by a softening Chinese market in SMS value-added services, which has been hurt by stricter billing practices and government regulations.

[...] RBT has, in the last six months, begun to gain significant traction in the U.K. But why has this low-tech service failed to catch fire in America? With T-Mobile and Verizon having recently begun offering the service, Mr. Rashtchy -managing director of Piper Jaffray- is bullish: “I believe it will take off soon with young people in America as well.”

And interesting

"Some companies are now acquiring rights for particular artists. Tom Online, for instance, signed an exclusive deal for ringback tones with Taiwan hip-hop sensation Jay Chou in mid-2004, and Linktone has signed deals for RBTs from top artists in the Sony and EMI stables. “Our music partners have had enough foresight to see this as a wireless, and even fixed-line, digital music opportunity,” said Mr. Begert."

emily | 10:05 AM | Ringback Tones |
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