Brazil Indians sell chanting cellphone ringtones

Xavante Indians living on the southern edge of Brazil's Amazon rainforest plan to start selling ringtones of traditional chants like the hunt song and the healing dance to cell phone users in China and Europe. [via stuff.co.nz]

"The project has generated tens of thousands of dollars for the Xavante and several other impoverished rural communities".

Dealer to face music over ringtones sale

According to The (Malaysia) Star, A mobile phone dealer who was nabbed on Tuesday in a Mall in PENANG, will be charged in court for selling ringtones illegally.

"The 24-year-old dealer was apprehended during an operation jointly conducted by the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) and the state Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs Ministry enforcement division.

The dealer would be the first person in the country to be charged with the offence. "

Net and Mobile music downloads in Japan

Legal downloads of music in Japan continued to grow in the third quarter of the year although that growth appears to be slowing, according to figures from the Recording Industry Association of Japan via Infoworld.

"The total number of downloads was 91.9 million during the July to September quarter, according to figures published by the RIAJ on Tuesday.

Music obtained by cell phone, which includes full tracks, ringtones and ringback tones, still dominates the Japanese market and accounted for the vast majority of downloads.

For the first time the RIAJ broke down the Internet download figures by type of download. Of the 5.7 million downloads in the third quarter about 5.4 million downloads were of singles. There were 260,000 downloads of albums and 86,000 downloads of other paid content, which was mainly music videos.

By value, Internet downloads were worth a total of ¥1.2 billion (US$10.3 million) during the quarter while those downloaded through mobile platforms were worth about 10 times as much at ¥12.4 billion."

Mastertones ring up profits

According to USAToday, the music industry is gleefully embracing the ringtone revolution, now powering into its second phase as mastertones replace polyphonique ringtones.

"This week, Nielsen RingScan unveils its mastertone sales data, and Billboard publishes its inaugural mastertone chart, a clear indication of the song snippet's stature.

...With Informa Telecoms and Media projecting a $6.8 billion mastertone business by 2010, labels are salivating over profit and promotional opportunities.

In recognition of the mastertone's commercial and cultural clout, the Recording Industry Association of America, which has certified album sales for 47 years, recently introduced Master Ringtone Sales Awards by inaugurating 128 gold and platinum artists."

Start-up claims to offer next mobile-music thing

A start-up called Oxy Systems announced Monday new software that allows people to use a cellular network to sync music libraries stored on their PCs with their mobile handsets. News.com reports.

"Until now, "side loading" music from a user's own collection on a PC has required the use of the cable connector. Oxy claims that its new service, called Phling!, is the first to offer this capability over a wireless network, which streams the music from the PC to the handset.

A big benefit of this approach is that subscribers no longer need additional storage capability on their handsets, which means users can access thousands of songs.

... Oxy plans to make its software available to mobile operators, which will use it to sell services directly to consumers. The company has launched a pilot program with Swisscomm in Europe. It hopes to strike a deal with a carrier in the United States sometime next year."

Digital music download service to hit UK in '07

A digital music download service that allows consumers to buy songs instantly as they listen to them on digital radio will start operating across Britain in the first half of 2007, reports Reuters.

"The London-based radio programming producer UBC Media said it had reached agreements with radio companies, record companies and mobile operators to launch the service in London by early 2007 and across the country by May of that year.

... The new mobile phones and radios will track download usage. ... In a statement, the company said listeners would pre-pay for songs using a credit plan similar to the one commonly used for mobile phone calls. "

[UBC Media Press Release]

Jamster to provide EMI realtones

Digital entertainment service provider Jamba / Jamster has completed an agreement with EMI Music to make realtones and music videos by EMI artists available to its customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

[via Netimperative]

Apple ready to rock the phone world

Renewed reports that Apple is to launch its long awaited iPhone in the first half of next year may prompt a lot of people to delay the purchase of their next phone or music player until then, if only because there is no point in buying two devices when one will do. [via The Guardian]

"Whether the latest report - that Apple has ordered 12m units from Foxconn of Taiwan, complete with 2-megapixel camera, - is true, is beside the point.

The interesting thing is that Apple's entry could give mobile phone operators the big kick they badly need."

Above picture is not the real iPhone

Kabul Ringtones

Business Week has an article detailing a day in the life of Eaton Dunkelberger, who operates a ringtone business in Afghanistan. "This young Afghan makes our ringtones and owns the only music production studio in Kabul...."

[via Moco News]

Greenpeace launches activist ringtone to save oceans

Supported by a South Park animation, Greenpeace is using a special ringtone and text alert sound in its campaign for a moratorium on bottom trawling in the ocean. Mike Grenville for 160characters.org reports.

... "Greenpeace says that at the moment, the EU, under the influence of Spain as well as Canada, are opposed to this and developed the viral cartoon and ringtone campaign to remind supporters to take action.

The free MP3 format ringtones and an SMS alert of "Oh my God, they killed Squiddy!" can be downloaded here: Blame Canada Ringtone."

Other examples of ringtones used for political purposes:

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

-- Riot Tones. The new bumper sticker?

-- Ring tones--the new protest songs

-- India. Patriotic Ringtones and Prime Minister Voice mail used in campaign

-- USA. Political ringtones from Ringtone JukeBox

-- USA. Jabbertones's political voice tones

-- USA. Presidential Voice Tones

Related articles to Hello Garcia / Gloria Arroyo ringtones:

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

-- 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

Verizon Wireless and Rhino Entertainment Team Up to Deliver Classic Hits With "Songs You Know"

Rhino Entertainment, a division of the Warner Music Group has announced availability of its "Songs You Know" catalog of classic-hits ringtones and ringbacks on the Verizon Wireless platform.

The first 7 volumes each of 10-song full-track download compilations, feature an eclectic array of well-known tones from artists such a The Cure, Otis Redding, and Grandmaster Flash, to name a few. "

[via Fierce Mobile Content and MarketWire]

Cingular (ring) Tone Cards: The perfect xmas gift

Cingular Wireless today introduced Tone Cards, a way for consumers to give the gift of ringtones and for Tone Card recipients to easily download their favorite ringtones and graphics.

Tone Cards are essentially prepaid ringtone cards that allow their consumers to purchase tones and graphics in advance rather than incurring charges to their monthly Cingular bill.

Tone Cards utilize credits which are redeemable for ringtones and graphics. Tone Card users can redeem their credits at Cingular MEdia Mall either via the Cingular website or via their mobile phone. For more information, visit Cingular MEdia Mall [via Mobile Burn]

Nokia N80 As Recording Studio? First Ever Album Made on a Mobile.

After yesterday's news of a ringtone released as a record, today we get news of an album recorded entirely on a cell phone and released on the Internet.

Omri Levy's new EP "about:blank" is the first album to be recorded entirely onto a mobile phone. The album was recorded on a Nokia N80 handset, using an Alon MP3 dictaphone, according to Mobile Crunch.

"The release, “about:blank”, which is available via Omri blog is availble for free under a Creative Commons release."

Other related ringtone-release related firsts:

-- Planet Funk First band to release a single by phone (april 2006)

-- Chinese singer Long Pang Launches First ‘Mobile Album' In China (June 2005)

-- Crazy Frog Ringtone to be released as UK music single (February 2005)

-- "SUPER SMART" released its album "Panda Babies" as ringtones (April 2004)

-- Ricky Martin's Album Debuted on Cellphones in S Korea (June 2003)

-- Finnish band Nylon Beat, released first ringtone teaser a (March 2003)

Rapper Chingy Personalizes Ringtones

Chingy, a rapper with EMI Group’s Capitol Records, has “recorded over a 100 versions of his “Dem Jeans” single using a different popular girls’ name each time… (replacing) ‘girl’ in the chorus line. “Damn Girl, How’d You Get In Dem Jeans?” for each version”.

The Chingy music will be offered to Sprint customers. [via Moco News]

Related Personalized Ringtones:

-- Wake-up Tones Call out your Name - Australia.mobilecontentworld.net have launched their range of wake-up name tones. Available in English, French, Germand and Norwegian.

-- Have your phone sing your first name as a ringtone - Spanish Olemovil offers TONO NOMBRES, a very personalized ringtone service, enabling your phone to sing out a little song calling your name, whenever it rings.

-- Sprint PCS gets name ringers - Sprint PCS is offering “name ringers”, a collection of ringtones made just for people with common names. (It only works for common names as they have to make the ringtones, it's not a voice synth).

Is it a Ringtone? No, it's a Record

It’s not unusual for a record to become a ringtone, but today sees the release of something different: ringtone that has been turned into a record. Mobile Markating Magazine.

Last year, fashion brand Levi's launched a mobile application called ‘MAX’ that allowed consumers to create music on their mobile phones and upload the track to a dedicated area on the Levi's website.

... The remix, called ‘Open Your Soul’ or ‘O.Y.S.’ has proved so popular that Levi's Europe has had the remix produced as 12" white labels which are now circulating in clubland, and getting airplay on Radio 1, XFM, and Kiss.

The track is released as a digital download today and is available at all good online retailers. All profits from the release will be donated to kichass.tv charity."

Muslim clerics in India: No Quran verses as cell phone ringtone

Muslim clerics at a leading seminary in India have asked people not to use verses from the Quran as ringtones for their mobile phones, saying the practice violates Islamic law, reports the AP.

"Quran verses "are not meant for entertainment," seminary official Mohammed Asumin Qazmi said Saturday. "Anyone who persists in using these should be ostracized from society," Qazmi said.

...Ringtones with Quran verses or the call to prayers are popular among Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state. Many users consider the religious tunes a reminder of their faith."

Previously, an imam at a Mosque in Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa against mobile phones after one rang during prayers on Saturday, playing Arabic pop music.

"The fatwa states that the next time somebody allows their phone to go off in the congregation, the imam could throw the guilty person out of the mosque."

Mana live in concert on Sprint cell phones Nov 28

MANA, the first Latin band to break into a top-ten spot on the Billboard 200 and one of the hottest Mexican rock bands of all time, is coming to Sprint multimedia phones, live and in concert on Nov. 28.

Sprint Vision subscribers can enjoy the full concert free of additional charge from the best seat in the house: anywhere on the Sprint Power Vision or Nationwide Sprint PCS Networks.

[via Broadcast Newsroom]

Ringtones for land lines

AT&T is offering ringtones for your home phone. Trial runs started yesterday in both San Francisco and Indianapolis, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

"The new service, called Answer Tones costs 99 cents per month for a subscription, then you pay $1.99 for each ringtone."

The service allows customers to select a special tone to play for each of their friends and family, from a wide variety of content that includes music, comedy, movie or TV clips, and celebrity sound bites.

Related:

-- Magic Ringtone MP3 Ringer for landline phones

-- US phone companies bring cellphone features such as ringtones to landlines

-- Ringtones to energise the fixed line market in India

-- Ringtones available for landline phones in Germany

Nokia's New Year global music event

Nokia will welcome the New Year in unique style - by connecting millions of music lovers from around the world as they count down the final minutes of 2006. Phonemag reports and Nokia's press release.

"Nokia New Year’s Eve, a global music event stretching across four continents, will feature a number of international artists including The Black Eyed Peas and Scissor Sisters to entertain audiences at New Year’s celebrations from Hong Kong to Rio de Janeiro.

Those unable to attend in person can experience the party via television or the internet. To orchestrate this unique global celebration, Nokia has enlisted the services of Harvey Goldsmith CBE, the producer of Live Aid and Live8.

... Nokia New Year’s Eve looks set to be the world’s biggest New Year’s party of 2006 with the five events expected to have a combined attendance of 1.3 million and an anticipated global television and Internet audience of 150 million.

Chaos Mobile

Chaos Mobile is a new online portal celebrating the lifestyle associated with the popular genre exhibited at the two youth-oriented music tours.

Fans can download exclusive and non-exclusive content at http://www.chaosmobile.com such as custom voicetones, graphics, video clips, artist profiles and more from the artists who are performing with the tour, as well as mobile content from more than 300 bands that tour fans will appreciate.

"Our goal is to provide a gateway for young people to access mobile content from all their favorite bands, even the lesser-known ones."

[Press release]

Phonezoo.com launches a free service for personalized ringtones

Phonezoo.com launches today, offering user generated content and a free service for personalized ringtones.

I saw a slideshow and a demo of how it works. It's fabulous, anyone can open their own free account under "My Zoo" and save ringtones or music that they've uploaded from their hard disk - and share them with their cellmates, (family and friends). Friends can in turn upload their friends music to their own phone, they can even select which part of the song they want. And the Phonezoo community can rate and comment on the ringtones people have posted.

In their own words:

The company’s technology combines user-generated content and the collective intelligence of the Phonezoo community to deliver a ringtone service poised to disrupt a $600MM market in the U.S.

Phonezoo doesn't charge for ringtones and you don't need to buy any conversion software. With Phonezoo you are using the existing music and audio files in your own library, or files that are publicly available on the Internet, so there are no charges and no copyright issues.

Ringtones are fun and personalized. Phonezoo makes creating and sharing ringtones fun. Consumers can compose unique ringtones from any segment of any song or audio file they own; and they can create completely new and different ringtones from any sound source.

Phonezoo makes finding and sharing great ringtones a breeze. Phonezoo’s service gives users the ability to tap into the collective creative power of the Phonezoo community to find highly-rated, unique ringtones. Users can share their creations with friends, family and other Phonezoo community members.

Music Ringtones are Set to be Managed by Record Labels as a New Recorded Music Format

According to a Research and Markets, music ringtones in the future will be managed by record labels as a new recorded music format. Industry incumbents are finding that this shift will truly be a case of black and white. [via

"The catalyst of such a fundamental shift is the transition from monotonic and polyphonic ringtones to real music ringtones which has allowed the record labels to enter the market for the first time. This volume contains an analysis of the key trends which are shaping the development of the new ringtone industry.

Because ringtones and digital songs offer fundamentally different value sets, they are different product categories, each of which will be characterised by different pricing, promotion and positioning: the fact that a real music ringtone is simply an excerpt of a digital song is irrelevant from a marketing perspective.

... Now, through a range of sometimes aggressive initiatives the record labels, especially the majors, are sending a clear signal to the industry that they see themselves at the top of the ringtone food chain: having arrived at the table five years late, the label's are hungry and are in no mood to pussy-foot around with business partners."

Image from Rare Records

Nokia signs up Bowie in war on the iPod

Nokia is to take on Apple and Microsoft in an online music download war, reports UK's ThisIsMoney.

"The Finnish mobile phone company has signed up David Bowie to promote its new service, musicrecommenders.com, which is to be launched tomorrow.

It hopes to challenge Apple's dominance of the online market by making it easy for people to download music to their phone.

Nokia has also signed up 40 key record stores around the world to recommend music.

Each song from Nokia's site, which will include rare and difficult-to-find tracks, will cost 10p more than songs from Apple. However, the company hopes the calibre-of the record stores and David Bowie will persuade consumers to pay more.

...Experts say Nokia, despite having sold more than 80 million mobile phones with music-playing capacity, could struggle against Apple and its iPod. The company has more than 80% of the UK download market."

Previously: - Nokia launches international community: the music recommenders

Naming that tune by cell phone is hot in the US

The New York Daily News reports on how music recognition services - widely available in Europe - are finally coming to the US.

"Cingular's new flagship music phone, the Cingular SYNC by Samsung as well as other Cingular music models, feature a name-that-tune service, dubbed Music ID as part of a just launched suite of music offerings.

In a new twist, Cingular's MusicID not only identifies tracks, but makes it easy to buy them by directly linking to digital music store Napster.

Other cell phone carriers, including Verizon, Virgin Mobile, Alltel and T-Mobile, also offer music recognition services under a variety of brand names

The brains behind the song-naming gizmo is U.K.-based technology company Shazam Entertainment , which controls about 90% of the market."

Stereo Bluetooth Car Kits

A new car kit points toward the next hot trend in mobile audio: wireless music playback from phones and MP3 players using Bluetooth. [via Wired's Blog Listening Post]

New Album launches with Voice Messages to 15,000 Fans

Almost 15,000 Dierks Bentley fans received phone calls from the platinum selling country music singer on the street date of his new album release, Long Trip Alone. Top40Charts reports.

" The “Win a Phone Call From Dierks” promotion included a two-step approach: a recorded voice message from Dierks went out to all of his mobile messaging opt-ins on the same day that Dierks made a live call to the winner. More than 4,000 fans registered for the contest, in addition to thousands of fans that already opted-in to receive information from Dierks via their handheld devices.

The pre-recorded calls resulted in 99.9 percent positive market response and a flurry of new fan club subscriptions on www.dierks.com."

Free Holiday Ringtones

Its that time of year again and free Holiday Ringtones are back. Get into the holiday spirit with a holiday ringtone from the team at Unwired Appeal. Nice.

Ring-tone complaints cost millions in China

What PC? reports that "the latest financial data from companies offering ring-tone downloads, text information and other mobile services in China reveal sharp falls in revenue as new policies designed to protect consumers take effect.

"Some service providers have lost more than a quarter of their anticipated revenue, totalling tens of millions of dollars, after the introduction of the new rules - under which customers were first required to opt-in to continue receiving services to which they were already subscribed. "

The changes were prompted by customer complaints and new government regulations.

Thousands of customers had complained that they were being billed for services and downloads to which they had not agreed, or were unable to cancel services from the so-called wireless value-added services providers."

Portable music's future could be in your phone

According to the wireless phone industry, the days of the stand-alone digital music device are numbered. In coming years, they say, more music lovers will listen to music on their cellphones. USA Today reports.

"There's always going to be room for stand-alone music players, but the sheer numbers favor handsets," says Eli Harari, CEO of SanDisk, which makes memory cards for cameras, phones and music players.

According to researcher Strategy Analytics, 1 billion cellphones will be sold worldwide this year. Twenty-five percent of them — or 250 million — will be handsets that can also play music. The firm sees shipments of music phones growing to 800 million by 2009."

Ryuichi Sakamoto ringtones commissioned for Nokia 8800 available

Nokia's very exclusive 8800 model is sold with ringtones by famous composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Now these ringtones are available to all and can be dowloaded from Nokia's website.

e-series via mobile|blog.it.