Background Tones

According to Mobile Entertainment magazine via MobHappy, background tones are music that plays in the background while you are talking on the phone.

Celebrum, the tech providers, say that they have over 1 million subscribers in India, with 3 million downloads and the typical pattern is to change tones once or twice a month."

Verizon Introduces New Music-Playing Phone

The WSJ writes up Verizon Wireless' "Chocolate" phone, that doubles as a music player and has a design similar to the popular iPod.

"The Verizon Wireless handset, made by Korean manufacturer LG Electronics Inc., will be in stores Aug. 7 and will be exclusive to the carrier.

The new phone is another effort by wireless carriers to encourage consumers to use mobile handsets as MP3 players. All the major U.S. cellular carriers have launched services that let consumers download music and ring tones to their phones or transfer them from their PCs. But cellphone companies now are edging further into the turf of music players by designing handsets with prominent playback buttons and more storage space for songs."

Slangtones

Slangtones are a big hit on myspace.

Slangtones is a ringtone company specializes in voice ringers ringtones straight from the streets, offering kids slangtones from every major city.

Hey, hey, pickupa the phone or Man, it's me, stop playin. More here

Fans Dial Into Rolling Stones' Euro Concerts

The Rolling Stones will offer audio access to their remaining European concerts by being the first act to utilize a new technology called Listen Live!. [Gizmag via MIT Advertising Lab]

"Fans can tune in from any phone (mobile or land line) and listen live for a fee of US$1.99 per seven-minute feed direct from the soundboard. Under existing proprietary technology, up to one million fans will be able to listen in on selected concerts."

BBC goes down under with Little Britain mobile clips

According to Brand Republic, BBC Worldwide has signed a deal with Vodafone that will allow mobile users to download clips of 'The Office', 'Little Britain', and 'Doctor Who' in Australia and New Zealand.

"The BBC said that 3G users on either side of the Tasman Sea would be able to access more than 250 catchphrase clips from the likes of 'Little Britain', 'The League of Gentlemen', 'Goodness Gracious Me', and 'Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.'"

According to the BBC, it is the first time content from the shows has been licensed for mobile download outside the UK, and the first time any BBC content has been available to mobile phone users in New Zealand."

Why do others' cell phone ring tones annoy us so?

According to a survey by US Ranstad, 30 percent of employees say the ringing of their co-workers' cell phones is their greatest annoyance of the workday, reports the Chicago Tribune.

"Considering all the sounds we encounter in a typical day -- clacking keyboards, conversations, traditional telephones -- what is it about a ringing cell phone that jars us so?

Diana Deutsch and Trevor Henthorn, researchers in the psychology department at University of California at San Diego, wonder if the so-called "earworm effect" is the culprit. Unlike the typical brrring! of the conventional phone, the song snippets of many ringtones insidiously wend their way into our heads.

... Perhaps cell phone sounds are still so new and varied that we've yet to absorb them into our mental vocabulary of everyday sounds, so they simply don't blend into our environment."

Class action lawsuit over over ringtone royalties

Elmo Shropshire has joined other performers in a lawsuit against Sony Music over royalties for downloaded music, reports the Associated Press.

"Initially, the acts had complained that Sony was stiffing them on revenue from legal download services like iTunes and Napster.

In the revised suit, filed earlier this month, the bands say Sony also failed to pay appropriate royalties on songs sold as mobile phone ringtones.

... Ringtones — small sections of popular songs that play when a person's phone rings — have been netting the performers about 8.3 cents apiece, out of the $1 to $1.50 that Sony Music gets from each sale. The musicians say they should get 50 to 75 cents.

The three musical acts have asked a federal court in Manhattan to certify the case as a class action covering all Sony artists who signed deals between 1962 and 2002.

The lawsuit claims that ringtones will be a $20 billion industry by the end of 2006."

SK Telecom launches new multimedia phone service

SK Telecom, has launched a new multimedia phone personalization service based on Immersion's VibeTonz(R) System.

Offered to its 20 million subscribers, SK Telecom will use the VibeBell service to provide music and video clips synchronized with VibeTonz dynamic, high-fidelity vibrations.

"LiveBell, a site for downloadable content, is one of our most popular services because our customers really appreciate being able to personalize their phones with audio and video ringers and wallpapers that make a statement about who they are," said Sang Kyung Jo, manager of the product development team at SK Telecom. [via Mobile Korea]

Related:

-- VibeTonz-enabled phone

-- S.J. firm customizes phone vibrations

-- Phone jolt

-- The touchy-feely side of telecoms

-- New Cell Phones Will Reach Out and Slap Someone

-- Cellphone to vibrate in tune

Ringtone instigator celebrates 7 years in business

It's now seven years since James Winsoar first had that spark of inspiration that led him to launch the first ringtone customising business back in 1999.

Phat Tonez ringtone service officially made it into the history books when a prestigious Yale University publication entitled "Ringtones, or the auditory logic of globalization” by Sumanth Gopinath recognised the company as being the first to market ringtone customisation services.

The top 10 most popular ringtones of all time are (in reverse order):

10. A Spoonful of Sugar (from Mary Poppins)
9. The Prisoner (starring Patrick McGoohan)
8. Archers (BBC Radio 4)
7. Rouge - Don't Be Shy
6. Lord of the Rings
5. Austin Powers
4. Superman
3. Indiana Jones
2. Spiderman
1. Mission Impossible

Interestingly, when you add up sales of all artists' ringtone tracks overall, the most popular artist is Eminem together with his band D12.

Phat Tonez is always responding to consumer demands. James Winsoar next plans to revolutionise the industry with a new low cost 50p per ringtone download service and the ability to 'earn' free ringtones by recommending friends.

Related post: James Winsoar, first ringtone provider

JazzTones

Initially, jazz, like classical, was slow to take off in the digital sphere, but it's showing signs of catching up, repors the WSJ.

"According to Nielsen SoundScan, nearly 7% of jazz album sales in the first half of 2006 were digital sales".

Last week, the Blue Note label began releasing hooks from famous jazz songs by Herbie Hancock, Chet Baker, Art Blakey and others for sale as ringtones through most major mobile-phone carriers.

The ringtones can be ordered directly through the menus of most newer cellphones.

Women like ringtones best

Ringtones are more popular among women - 54 percent compared to 42 percent of men. Personalized ringtones also are more appealing to women. According Sprint's latest survey, "What Women Want When It Comes To Their Wireless Phones". [via
Wireless Week]

Nokia hires Agency Republic for music

Brand Republic reports that Nokia has appointed Agency Republic to develop a global online music presence for the brand.

"Agency Republic will now be charged with developing an overall theme to link the brand with music worldwide, with a particular focus on China and the Far East. It will also create an online digital platform from which to manage the initiative.

Nokia has promoted its link with music since 1997, when it launched a phone with downloadable ringtones. "

Death Row Artists Hope to Ring Up Sales

Death Row Records is making a mobile phone market play to bring the label's artists into the mobile format, thanks to a newly signed deal with Hudson Entertainmentand Koch Records.

"As part of the exclusive publishing deal, master ringtones and ringback tones will be created for the mobile market featuring Death Row artists such as Tupac and Snoop Dogg. [via Wireless Week]

LiveScience on the Mosquito Tone and hearing loss

According to LiveScience, the reason the over 30 crowd can't hear the Mosquitotone, is "a result of an epidemic of noise-induced hearing loss, not just aging."

"There is natural age-related hearing loss, called presbycusis. And then there's unnatural, accelerated hearing loss from noise. Most 30-year-olds should be able to hear a 17-kilohertz sound. This is the case in quiet societies in remote regions such as Nepal and parts of Africa. The fact that many of us cannot hear the Mosquito is a result of an epidemic of noise-induced hearing loss, not just aging."

Mosquitotone Related articles:

-- A Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears

-- Mosquitotone - Teen Buzz/Teenager Repellent ringtone available

-- Teenager repellent "Mosquito" turned into ringtone

-- Where to download the Mosquitotone

Links to related studies and article on hearing loss:

-- iPod/Cell Phone warning: turn it down

-- Mobiles could lead to hearing loss among college kids

-- Siemens phones may cause hearing damage

Racist ringtone sets off alarms in South Africa

A cell phone ring tone describing violence against black people is spreading from phone to phone in South Africa via Bluetooth, raising concerns in the post-apartheid country, reports Reuters Alert Net.

"The Cape Argus newspaper said the new ringtone featured a song about tying a black person to the back of a truck and setting dogs on him.

Lionel Louw, chief of staff for the Office of the Premier in the Western Cape, told the newspaper the ringtone should be condemned as out of step with South Africa's mutliracial democracy.

"The form of behaviour reflected in the ringtone is criminal and its perpetrators will feel the full might of the law," Louw was quoted as saying."

Rap your earphones around this

A system that replicates voices in any language is being touted as hip-hop's next big thing, writes Jeremy Gerard for The Standard.

"A proprietary new speech-conversion system can produce their voices in any language spoken in the lucrative global markets where their music - as well as the clothing, ringtones and other lifestyle extensions of their brands - is sold.

The system, called Voxonic, can replicate a specific voice in any desired language. It's already used in limited applications, including film dubbing and corporate communications.

... Voxonic works by taking a star's speech patterns, recorded during 15 minutes in a studio, and breaking them down into the "phonemes" that compose an individual voice.

A second actor, fluent in the desired language, then records the entire lyric, mimicking the star's vocal patterns. The Voxonic technology aligns the two, resulting in vernacular speech that has a "99 percent level of accuracy" in replicating the original speaker's voice."

SK Telecom Adds Vibration to Ringtones

SK Telecom is launching vibration ring-tones, applying Immersion's vibration technology, so that users can feel the beat of the ringtones, announced the mobile operator on Monday. Telecoms Korea reports.

"The first handset supporting SKT’s new service is SCH-B450 of Samsung Electronics.

Users will be able to control the intensity and the pattern of vibration as well as set the type of vibration according to the caller."

Verizon blocks RAZR's feature to transfer MP3

Verizon blocks the ability to transfer files into the audio folder of Verizon-purchased RAZRs, according to Gizmodo.

"Supposedly this is done to prevent consumers from creating and transferring their own ringtones to phone and forcing Verizon users to download ungodly expensive ringtones directly from Verizon.

Verizon sold the RAZR with an earlier (v2) version of its software, with MP3 ringtones enabled."

Mobile Phones to Make Sweet Music

Mobile phones are much more capable of making an impact on the market for mobile music players than on that for digital cameras, reports Mobile TechNews.

"This is the opinion formed by IMS Research during its most recent examination of the handset market. It found that whilst a market for dedicated MP3 players will remain, mobile phones are likely to steal a significant proportion of the market.

Senior Analyst, John Devlin, said "With the primary functionality of an MP3 player being data storage it is more an issue of capacity than performance. Once this is addressed (and this can already be seen in a limited number of new devices, such as Sony Ericsson's 4GB W950i Walkman phone) there are few reasons for people to double up on the number of devices carried."...

Nokia touts music-phone sales

According to Nokia, its 3250 Music Phone, which hit stores in March, has surpassed 1 million in sales. [via MP3.com]

"While phone maker Sony Ericsson has ridden the growing popularity of its music-playing phones to record profits, Nokia said that its own music phone has sold more than 1 million units in less than four months.

... According to market research firm Ovum, an estimated 27 percent of the mobile phones sold globally this year will be able to store and play music and will jump to 69 percent by 2010."

Regulation of ringtones in China hits Monstermob

Mobile content company Monstermob saw its share price more than halve yesterday after warning that increased regulation of ringtones in China could seriously disrupt its business. [via The Guardian].

In Iraq, having the wrong ringtone can get you killed

In a very interesting article, TIME looks at how Iraqis are changing their identities to survive — and why just having the wrong first name, the wrong accent, praying a certain way or having the wrong political ringtone - can get you killed.

"It's indicative of the danger of daily life in Baghdad these days that the very basis of your identity can mark you for death.

Shi'ites and Sunnis share a common ethnicity and have a hard time telling themselves apart. And so the killers rely on a cruder vetting process: choosing victims based on their first name, which for many Iraqis is their only religiously distinguishing characteristic.

Websites like the Iraqi League offer survival technique for those in the line of fire.

They offer detailed tips on how Sunnis can pass themselves off as Shi'ites—like how to pray in public places (there are small differences between the Shi'ite and Sunni postures), or how to acquire a southern Iraqi accent (the majority of southerners are Shi'ite).

... And they are warned against using mujahedin anthems as ringtones on their cell phones, a practice common among sympathizers of the Sunni insurgency. There's also useful advice on how and where to get a fake ID."

Barking ringtone from the DogChannel

The editors of DOG FANCY magazine are proud to announce the redesign of its website, DogChannel.com.

Why is this relevant to ringtones you may ask? because in additon to offering funny video clips of crazy dogs and the opportunity to build a personal web page for your dog, if offers a free barking ringtone.

[Press release]

Liks to other animal tones

Ring tones wake over two in five Japanese

43% of Japanese use their cell phone as an alarm, and wake up to the sound of their cell phone's ringtone, according to a recent survey by Cross Marketing Inc . [via What Japan Thinks [Digital World Tokyo]

"I'm a terrorist" ringtone" identified

boingboing readers identify the ringtone that almost got a girl arrested:

The ringtone is a track called "The Terrorist" by DJ Vadim as the chorus goes "I am a terrorist! terrorist! terrorist! terrorist!".

From an album entitled "U.S.S.R.: Life From the Other Side". You can listen here. Scroll down to "Listen to Samples".

"I am a terrorist" ringtone - turn off at airport

China Daily reports that a 15-year-old Singaporean girl was almost refused the right to board a plane at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on Monday due to her phone's unusual ringtone "I am a terrorist".

"Security guards in the airport got a start when they heard a voice shouting, "I am a terrorist." The "voice" was soon found to be coming from the young Singaporean woman's mobile phone.

The girl was immediately required to delete the strange ring tone. She was allowed to board after getting a severe telling off from the airport security officials." [via boingboing]

Update: "I'm a terrorist" ringtone" identified

Ringtone makes it in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary

"Ringtone" is one of the new entries in the 2006 update of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, and is defined as "the sound made by a cell phone to signal an incoming call".

This follows the news posted earlier this week on "Texting" , "Text Message" and "Google", making it in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Telus cellphones to relay music, entertainment from XM satellite radio

Users of high-end Tellus cellphones can now access live streaming music and entertainment programs from the devices, reports The Canadian Press.

"Tellus aid Thursday it has struck a deal with XM Satellite Radio that lets its clients listen to real-time programming.

"It's a revolution in mobile entertainment," Stephen Tapp, president of XM Canada boasted in a release."

Putting the mobile music pieces in place

John C. Tanner for Telecoms Asia has written the most comprehensive and thorough article on the mobile music industry. A must read.

Excerpts

"The music industry is well aware that digital music is increasingly becoming a mobile phone play, not least because ringtones - which count as digital music - accounted for 40% of digital music dollars last year. And it's only going to get bigger.

... However, for cellcos hoping to offer full-track music services the biggest challenge may not be getting to users to pay so much as acquiring the rights to the content in the first place.

The music licensing regime is almost horrifically complex.

... Even so, licensing isn't the only element that's user-unfriendly. The use of DRM and copy-control software remains a controversial point that pits a legitimate need to protect copyright against a smooth user experience. Many users have become increasingly frustrated with the revelation that music they download from iTunes and other music services is not easily transferable to other devices and are often incompatible with other players.

The mobile music scene is likely to be no different. For example, customers of MotoMusic.com can only play their tracks on the first Motorola handset they transfer them to. Also, the songs are encrypted and unlocked using downloaded keys that the users pay for via SMS. The trouble is that if the user changes handsets (or loses the handset), they must pay for another key to listen to the track again.

Nokia's music phones have similar properties, although Jawahar Kanjilal, director of multimedia experiences at Nokia Asia Pacific, says the user doesn't have to be penalized when they change handsets. "Features can be enabled so that if you lose or change your handset, customer service can identify which songs you have already paid for and reactivate them," he says."

(Above image from Digital-Lifestyles)

Reuters Mobile Ringtone Alerts

In conjunction with the release of the beta version of their new mobile news service., Reuters is offering for free, two ringtones (poly and true) "to assign to your alerts so you'll know when an important news event happens".