June 26, 2005
Ringtones make sweet music for record label
This Reuters story has been picked up by most newspapers, but Moco News sums it up best:
Now that phones are playing master tones (actual song snippets), ringtones are becoming big business for record labels, which were excluded from profiting from monophonic and polyphonic ringtones.
“While polyphonics and monophonics only provide royalties for songwriters and song publishers, the new forms generate payments for record companies and recording artists as well. Some see even more ambitious commercial use of mobile phones in the future…
Sony BMG already makes as much money from ringtones as it does from computer-based digital downloads, and ringtone revenues at rival EMI Group only slightly trail those from song downloads…
The performing-rights organization ASCAP, which collects royalties for songwriters and song publishers, says the $5 million it will collect from ringtones this year already matches revenue from Internet radio, online greeting cards and other “new media” combined“.
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