October 5, 2006
Britain's mobile phone ringtone boom has come to an end
Britain's mobile phone ringtone boom has come to an end, at least that what a leading market research group, MusicAlly, and Universal Music are saying. The Telegraph reports.
"Industry watcher MusicAlly.c predicts that the ringtone market will shrink for the first time ever this year. It forecasts that within four years, turnover will be just £78m ($147m), less than half last year's total.
The research was borne out by comments yesterday from Universal Music UK, which admitted it had seen its first decline in revenue from ringtones over the past six months. Ringtone revenue growth had raised hopes both for mobile operators - struggling to make a return on investments in 3G - and for record companies, in their efforts to offset falling revenues caused by piracy.
Both Universal and MusicAlly said last year's controversy surrounding hidden subscription charges for certain ringtone services was partly to blame."
... Steve Mayall, of MusicAlly, said another reason for the ringtone decline was the growing ease with which people could ''sideload" songs from a computer to a mobile at no cost."
Related:
-- Ringtone growth standstill blamed on Crazy Frog
-- Refunds ordered over Crazy Frog
-- Crazy Frog Cleans Up its Subscription Services
-- Watchdog kicks Crazy Frog ad outside kids' viewing time
-- Probe launched into "Crazy Frog" sales tactics
-- That Crazy Frog: The Dark Side
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