Yung Joc Ringtones raising the roof

According to Net Music Countdown, Yung Joc's album "New Joc City," may not come out until June 6th, but the rapper is already raising the roof with his ringtone .

"According to his record label, Atlantic Records, Joc has already sold 200,000 ringtones through Sprint and has two heavily promoted exclusive tracks in the Sprint Music Store."

Da Vinci Code Ringtones

Mobile Streams have signed a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to create and distribute mobile content based on the recently released film The Da Vinci Code.

[via Mobile Weblog]

Web Hosting company registers mosquitone.net and exploits teen buzz ringtone

More on Teen Buzz ringtone...

Utah based Web hosting company BlueHost.Com registered the domain name mosquitone.net on May 30th, opened a blog called Mosquitone and submitted an entry to digg.com which reads:

"If anyone remembers last years Crazy Frog ringtone, this year, the mosquitone, also known as the teen buzz will be number 1. I can just see how we are starting to get into the age of ultrasound wars!"

Yet strangely, the link to mosquitone.net, shows only a single "Hello World" entry. Just a traffic generating trick? For the record teenbuzz.com - which would have been more appropriate - is already taken (registered in 2005).

Hmm, I think "Mosquitone" would have been the perfect domain for SK Telecom's mosquito repellent ringtone which launched in 2003.

Teen Buzz Related articles:

-- Teen Buzz Ringtone to be made available by "Mosquito" manufacturer

-- Teenager repellent "Mosquito" turned into ringtone

-- A Teenager Repellent

Ringxiety

Following the New York Times story on "audio illusion, phantom phone rings or ringxiety and fauxcellarm" - described as the new reason for people to either bemoan the techno-saturation of modern life or question their sanity, News.com.au via Engadget now claims the phenomenon - of falsely believing you hear your mobile phone ringing or vibrating - is so widespread it has an official name: "ringxiety" and it's really the subconscious calculating how popular we are.

David Laramie, from California's School of Professional Psychology, who coined the termed ringxiety and says he himself is a sufferer.

More on phanthom vibrations and phanthom rings in Ringtonia.

Bushism voice tones on The Decider

A new store on Xingtone called The Decider, is offering some of George W's most funny (or stupid) statements as mobile phone voice tones.

"La Migra" Ringtone Creator Is At It Again

Paul Saucido, the saucy Chicano comedian whose "La Migra" ringtone caused a national furor for being peprceived as making fun of illegal Hispanic immigrants - is using the newfound celebrity to launch a range of Spanish voice ringtones starring parody Latino characters, available now from Spanish-language portal zukamovil.com.

New spoofs of anti-immigrant forces are on their way, Saucido said, including a new "La Migra" ringtone and a parody of the Minutemen , the volunteer civilian border-patrol group. [via GearLog]

Related posts:

-- Ringtone Company Sorry for Lyrics Satire

-- Cingular pulls racist ring tone

Exactly Who is Calling ringtones

WhosCallingMe.com offers a choice of ring tones to assign to your contact list - so you know just who's calling You can chose from a database of hundreds of xisting names set to different types of background music.

In their own words:

With an enormous database of over 600 names, and growing weekly, the WhosCallingMe.com web site is poised to be the premiere site for delivery of Named Ring Tones, and that is not all. There is a complete line of General Alert tones including ‘the office is calling’, and ‘your mom is calling’, as well as many more, to complete the offer of making your Mobile Phone smart. [Press Release]

Links to other Name Tone offers:

-- Wake-up Tones Call out your Name

-- Have your phone sing your first name as a ringtone

-- Sprint PCS gets name ringers

Teen Buzz Ringtone to be made available by "Mosquito" manufacturer

Following the surge in interest in the "Teen Buzz" ringtone - the ultra-high sound emitted from the Mosquito device only audible to teenagers - that UK kids have turned into a ringtone, Compound Security Systems Ltd, have decided to produce a version of their Mosquito’s sound for mobile telephones and a range of Mosquito wallpaper.

They are looking for a ringtone content provider that could set this up for them. Interested parties should contact Simon Morris, Compound Security Systems Ltd's Commercial director, by email at simon@compoundsecurity.co.uk

According to Morris: "We have decided to produce a version of our Mosquito’s sound for mobile telephones and a range of Mosquito wallpaper. This will be sold on our website – hopefully in conjunction with one or more of the big ringtone re-sellers – and ALL THE PROFITS DONATED TO ONE OR MORE CHILD ORIENTATED CHARITIES.

Really nice.

Related posts:

-- Teenager repellent "Mosquito" turned into ringtone

-- A Teenager Repellent

Countdown Ringtone - by Rocket Scientists

The scientists over at Really Rocket Science have come up a clever way to promote their blog - free countdown ringtones.

They combined a launch “countdown” with actual audio of an Atlas rocket liftoff and converted it into a mobile phone ringtone. Read more in Ringtone blasts off .

[via Gadget Lounge]

LG, Sprint introduce new music phone, FUSIC

Sprint and LG Electronics MobileComm introduce FUSIC, a trendsetting mobile phone with
a progressive design and music and entertainment services delivered at broadband-like speeds. [via MobileKorea.tv]

Teenager repellent "Mosquito" turned into ringtone

Remember the teenager repellent called Mosquito I wrote about a few days ago, the ultrasonic device that emits a sound only audible to teenagers? Shopkeepers in England have been installing them in order to prevent anti social youths from hanging out in front of their stores.

Well now techno-savvy pupils have recorded the ultra-high sound - audible only to under-20s- onto their cell phones, and are now receiving calls and text messages in class - without teachers having the faintest idea of what is going on.

The kids call it Teen Buzz, and it's spreading it from phone to phone via text messages and Bluetooth.

[via Metro]

Update - This post made it in the Top Blog Posts of Blogpulse on March 25. It ranked 21st.

Crazy Frog announces second LP and New Gadgets

New Album - Ringtone superstar Crazy Frog has announced a second long-player, with another host of mindblowing pop hits, reports Drowned in Sound.

"The album, entitled 'More Crazy Hits'will be released on June 26th and features the terrace anthem of the 2006 World Cup, We are the Champions.

New Gadgets - Gadget Candy reports on a new range of Crazy Frog-branded electronic games and gadgets which about to be unleashed, (unfortunately without linking either to their news source or Website where these gadgets can be found).

Lordi Ringtones, Finnish Eurovision Winner

Finish group Lordi is this year's Eurovision winner with their Hard Rock Hallelujah song - which has been made available for mobile phones.

Click here to listen or download Lordi ringtones. [via About Nokia]

Hard Rock Hallelujah sounds nothing like most Eurovision entries. The song is melodic hard rock, a genre seldom associated with Eurovision. The name Lordi applies both to the group and its lead singer. Lordi looks even less like an ordinary Eurovision contestant and more like a heavily made up monster hard rock band along the lines of KISS or Twisted Sister, or a group of characters from a gory 1980s splatter movie.

Irish singer to launch mobile album

A singer from Kilkenny (Ireland) is launching an entire album exclusively on a mobile phone.

Singer-songwriter Majella Murphy has preloaded her new album "Brave New World" on the Sony Ericsson Z530i available exclusively from O2 Ireland.

The album, which includes three live acoustic tracks will not go on general digital release until July 2006. [via SiliconRepublic]

This is not really the first time an album is released excusively on a mobile phone. Other artists have pre-relased their albums as early as 2003. In June 2003, Ricky Martin released his new album in South Korea, on cellphones, six days before the worldwide release.

In April 2004, the German music group "SUPER SMART" released its complete album "Panda Babies" as polyphonic mobile phone ringtones with integrated voices and instruments only - and not on traditional media like CD or vinyl.

Related:

-- Slum Village To Pre-Release New Album To Mobile Users - Slum Village announced that the album will be available to mobile phone users, two weeks prior to the album street date release.

-- New Fugees album exclusively available through VCast - Music from the new Fugees album will be made available exclusively through Verizon's new VCast music service... While record labels have made a standard practice of debuting singles as ringtones, this is the first time that studio masters to an unreleased album debuted exclusively via a wireless full-song music download service.

-- Ricky Martin's Album Debuted on Cellphones in S Korea - "The new Ricky Martin album, released on Sony Music, was debuted not in US or Puerto Rico, but in South Korea, on cellphones. On May 13, 2003, six days before the release worldwide.

MSN to promote Sony Ericsson's Walkman phone

According to NMA, MSN has signed a two-month deal with Sony Ericsson to promote their latest Walkman phone, the W810i, using a 'virtual buddy' gig guide on MSN Messenger.

"MSN Messenger users can download the 'buddy' to their existing contacts list where it will provide up to date information on all the latest gigs, club nights and shows in the user's chosen area.

Users can state the type of music they're interested in and the area they live in and the virtual MSN Messenger buddy will reply with the required listings.

The campaign, which goes live on 27 May, will be supported by Sony Ericsson ad placements on the MSN Today page, in MSN Entertainment, MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger.

Samsung to turn a cellphone into a full-size piano or a drum kit

Another great patent find from wonderful Barry Fox for New Scientist

"Samsung says it can turn a cellphone into a full-size piano or a drum kit, according to a recent patent filing which explains how.

Earlier in 2006 Motorola patented a way to use a cellphone screen and keypad to mimic a guitar. But there is little hope of squeezing 88 piano keys or a full set of drums into a handheld device.

Samsung's idea is to use a small video projector, embedded in the phone, to project an image of a keyboard or drum skins onto a plain, flat surface. As the owner presses the keys or hits the drums a camera in the phone would detect the motion and convert it into the appropriate musical sound.

The phone could either play the sound out loud or make a recording and the phone's camera could even make a video of the performance. The only issue the Samsung patent does not address is how much of a drain this will be on the phone’s battery life."

Sony to Develop Walkman Brand Cell Phone

Sony will offer in Japan a Walkman cell phone next month that will enable users to download music onto their handsets in a partnership with No. 2 mobile carrier KDDI, reports the Associated Press and Reuters.

... "Such a product is a first for the Japanese market, where more than 90 percent of the music downloads are carried out directly into cell phones, rather than personal computers.

The handsets from Sony Ericsson, Sony's mobile phone joint venture with Sweden's LM Ericsson, will come with 1 gigabyte of built-in memory that's enough to store 630 songs, and will play for 30 hours straight, company officials said.

... Unlike those sold elsewhere, the Walkman phones in Japan will connect to a digital music store operated by KDDI Corp. called Listen Mobile Service, or Lismo, for downloading music and will also download tunes directly into the cell phone in a separate KDDI service called "chaku-uta" that's already popular in Japan."

Oldies dialling up nostalgia as ringtones

Although current hits remain the most in-demand material, European labels increasingly are exploiting back catalogue as master ringtones for mobile download services, writes Scotsman.com News. That trend recently hit its stride when Universal issued 16 ABBA hits as ringtones for the first time.

"... The Swedish act joins a number of artists within Universal's catalogue whose tunes are available as master ringtones, including U2, Eminem, the Rolling Stones (the ABKCO/Decca era) and Bob Marley.

While the availability of catalogue for master ringtones increases, the overall ringtone market reflects today's tastes. The Mobile Entertainment Forum compiles weekly ringtone sales charts in the United Kingdom and Germany, which, London-based MEF global chairman Patrick Parodi confirms, "tend to be influenced heavily by current chart hits."

But Parodi adds, "As more mature users start downloading to handsets, we're seeing a revival of back catalogue for mobile music products."

... One challenge facing labels looking to exploit material by classic acts as master ringtones remains the fact that their original contracts did not cover any form of digital distribution".

“Sing-a-Ring"

Sunkissed Wireless, a store located on U.S 6 and County Line Road, in Indiana, "provides customers with a soundproof recording studio in which they can belt out a song, then carve out a small portion of it to use as their ringtone", reports the Post Tribune.

... "Aptly named “Sing-a-Ring,” customers can choose a song from a list of more than 14,500, said Mike Struppa, the man behind the concept. They then walk into the two-person studio, and a karaoke screen plays the music and scrolls the words to the song while the customer sings his or her heart out.

Once the customer is done recording, Struppa runs the track through proprietary software and works with the customer to decide which part of the song he or she wants as the ringtone. "

Crazy Frog goes World Cup

He's back! And just in time for the World Cup.

This time he is aligning himself with the hopes and dreams of all teams with his version of “We are the Champions“. Jamster is releasing brand new and exclusive Crazy Frog content including the realtone, the videotone and full track.

[via MocoNews]

A Teenager Repellent

This has not been applied to annoying cell phone ringtones yet, but there may be something here.

Mosquito is a teenager repellent - an ultrasonic device that emits a sound only audible to teenagers. It's targeted to business seeking a solution to anti social youths hanging in front of their stores fronts and driving their customers away.

The box is installed in front of a store and emits an unbearable sound, only discernable to those under 20! driving them away.

Apparently, the company has sold thousands of models in the UK, to the complete delight of it's inventor, Howard Stapleton.

In their own words:

It seems that there is a very real medical phenomenon known as presbycusis or age related hearing loss which, according to The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, "begins after the age of 20 but is usually significant only in persons over 65". It first affects the highest frequencies (18 to 20 kHz) notably in those who have turned 20 years of age". It is possible to generate a high frequency sound that is audible only to teenagers.

You can view a video about Mosquito which was on Swiss TV last night, in a show called Nouvo.

"Call Connected Thru The NSA" ringtone

They Might Be Giants offers three ringtone choices, "Phone Phone Phone", "Ring Ring" and new, "Call Connected Thru The NSA" - with arresting and uh, timely lyrics.

Call connected to the NSA / complete transmition to the NSA/ suspending your rights for the duration of the permanent war.

The tracks were created by the band at the end of a TMBG album session with the legendary Pat Dillet.

[via YESbutNobutYes via [BB-Blog]]

Related political ringtones:

USA
-- "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" ringtone

-- Ring tones--the new protest songs

-- Riot Tones. The new bumper sticker?

Philippines
-- It is my voice on poll tape (and ringtone), admits embattled Arroyo (Philippines)

-- From ring tones to car horns? Only in the Philippines

-- Filipinos clamour for scandalous mobile ringtone

-- Ringtones express widespread disgust over (Ms Arroyo's) obvious poll fraud

-- Wiretapped Voice Latest Ringtone Craze

Elsewhere
-- The ringtone is the new bumper sticker (World)

-- Israeli election ringtones make a splash

Ringtones as a "gift with purchase"

Sony Europe’s Recording Media & Energy division has announced that customers can download five different ringtones from the Sony BMG music catalogue free with every purchase of a 512MB Somny Memory Stick Micro M2

Customers choose from a list of 24 most-wanted ringtones which they download to personalise their mobile phone to suit their mood.

The ultra-small ‘ M2 memory card, enables users to store mobile content such as ringtones, pictures and music videos on compact, multifunctional devices.

To receive their five free ringtones, customers simply need to activate their mobile phone’s WAP connection and then enter their unique promotional code on the Sony BMG Music Entertainment official website . Once complete, Sony will send an SMS to allow the user to download the selected ringtones.

[Press release]

MyNuMo.com announces “Funniest Ringtone” Contest

myNumo will be running a “Funniest Ringtone” contest.

The contest is open to anyone who creates a comic ringtone. Contestants can upload their audio file or call into an 800 number to record their funny ringtone and myNuMo will make them available for purchase by Cingular, AT&T, and T-Mobile users. The best selling comic ringtone from May 15th to May 31st wins.

“The winner will receive $100,” states Sherri Cuono, President of myNuMo, “but everyone wins because artitsts get paid for every one of their ringtones sold.” The contest is open to new and existing artists on www.mynumo.com. The prize winner will be announced on June 5th.

Start Mobile offers original music for mobiles

Start Mobile - well known for it's mobile art gallery featuring thousands of original works from emerging artists from around the world - is now launching music for cell phones with a new offering called M60 - sixty second original songs delivered as true tones directly to consumers' cell phones + mobile devices.

START MOBILE invited independent musicians, bands, producers, and DJs from around the world to create new music for the mobile medium - the only stipulation being that their complete songs had to clock in at sixty seconds. [via Josh Spear]

Previous posts related to Start Mobile Art on mobile phones:

-- Start Mobile launched Patrick Nagel Mobile Art Gallery

-- Pop surrealist and underground art for mobile devices

-- New Art for cell phones

Mobile music looks beyond ringtones

The trend of personalizing one's mobile phone with music has proved quite lucrative for the world's record labels, reports Reuters.

"Ringtones, once dismissed as nothing more than a passing fad, have become a $3 billion worldwide market. But it's a market that is nearing maturation, with growth rates expected to fall to about 20% this year after doubling in 2005.

As a result, labels are now preparing different types of music clips they hope consumers will buy to personalize other mobile phone features.

More ringtone options:

-- Within a matter of weeks, several wireless operators are expected to introduce musical "alert tones" -- a snippet of a song lasting between two and five seconds, that users can assign to play when they receive incoming text messages and voice mail, similar to a ringtone.

-- A company called Endtone seeks to replace the beeping that occurs when a call has been dropped, concluded or otherwise disconnected with a musical alert.

-- Another, PhoneBites, has a service called Razz that enables phone users to insert audio clips into active conversations, outgoing messages and voice mail.

However, it may be too much of a good thing. "The personalization thing would appear to be played out," says Seamus McAteer, executive VP/senior analyst at mobile monitoring firm M:Metrics. "There are lots of ways music can be used to make a statement or add context, but it can go from the sublime to the ridiculous. You can't just add a jingle to everything you want to do with a phone. There are limits."

Pepsi and Motorola to Give Away Exclusive Ringtones

Pepsi and Motorola are now giving away free ringtones. One in every 3 bottles of Pepsi will be a winner. In addition, every ringtone winner will be entered to win a new cellphone from Motorola.

Pepsi and Motorola are teaming up to offer access to an unprecedented 150 original music and voice ringtones by Grammy Award-winning artists and producers. Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, The All-American Rejects and renowned producers Scott Storch and Luny Tunes are a few of the artists who have produced new ringtones that will only be available through the Pepsi Cool Tones & Motorola Phones promotion.

[via Mocoblog]

Mobile music booms on 3

Third generation mobile network 3 has announced that its customers bought more than one million music tracks and videos in the last month, downloading them to their handsets. [via Netimperative]

"3’s music service currently offers access to 500,000 tracks from all the major record labels and independents.

... 3 launched the first mobile-only single by Planet Funk on its network and has premiered singles from Madonna and Robbie Williams before TV or radio, among others."

Pantech Introduces Touch Wheel Music Phone

Pantech Group has announced the launch of its PG-3600V handset in Hong Kong - with an iPod-like wheel sensor enabling users to sweep the wheel key with their fingers. [via MobileKorea.tv]

Softbank, Apple to develop cell phones with iPods

Softbank and Apple Computer are planning to jointly develop cell phones equipped with Apple's popular iPod music players, reports Crisscross.

"The two companies are expected to launch third-generation cell phone handsets with the iPod functions next year, the sources said.

The cell phones will be able to download songs from Apple's iTunes Music Store from the Internet if they are connected to personal computers. They also plan to develop a handset that can download iTunes using Softbank's mobile telecommunications network, the sources said."