Napster claims music renting will rocket on mobile phones in 2007

The majority of consumers have not yet accepted the subscription model to rent rather than buy music but this is likely to change over the next year, according to the head of the online service Napster. PC Pro reports.

"Napster Chief Executive Chris Gorog believes this access to a wider market will introduce more music fans to the concept of unlimited subscription services.

'The key obstacle to date to moving into mass adoption for the subscription model has been the iPod which has had the very large majority of market share with MP3 players.'

'But the dynamic that will be happening ... in this calendar year is the phenomenon of music-enabled cell phones,' he told Reuters in an interview. "

Brits ashamed of their ringtone

80 percent of Brits are ashamed of their ringtone according to new research released today which confirms that 97% judge a persons personality based on their choice of ringtone. mad4mobilephones reports.

"Most Brits change their ringtone several times per year, the average is 3.4 times and people spend 37.5 minutes making a ringtone decision.

90% of people in the UK have been criticized for having a bad ringtone. Users often feel embarrassed when their phone rings and some are even criticised for having a boring, manufacturer setting, ringtone.

mad4mobilephones lists some common ringtone personality traits; fashion victim, movie buff, uber cool, introvert or too much time on your hands?... Which one are you?

Related "you are your ringtone" articles:

-- What Does Your Ringtone Say About You?

-- Are ringtones an extension of your negative side?

-- What kind of person sets their phone solely on vibrate mode?

-- What your ringtone says about you

-- Ringtones can reveal more about yourself that you might think

-- Ringtones: The new currency of cool

Domain "ringtones.cc" sells for $ 5'000

According to a press release from domainwire, an auction at Sedo for «ringtones.cc» closed at $5,000.

"This is the biggest .cc domain name sales to date. «.cc» is the country code domain name for Cocos Islands but has been marketed heavily as a general domain."

Bridge Report on Music Phones

According to RadioInk, there are now 23.5 million mobile subscribers in the US who own phones with integrated music players.

The number of consumers with music-enabled phones is up five times from the same period in 2005 and nearly 20 percent of the new phones purchased in Q3 2006 were music capable.

While the penetration of U.S. mobile video/TV subscribers is still small at 2.3 percent in Q3 2006, the number of mobile video/TV subscribers has doubled to 5.1 million since the beginning of the year.

Judge issues $5 fine to anyone who's ringtone goes off in his courtroom

A judge in Montana is fed up with mobile phones ringing in his courtroom and has done something about it, reports HTLounge.

"Judge Jeffrey Sherlock, of the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse in Helena, Montana., has announced that he will immediately issue a $5 fine to anyone whose mobile goes off during one of his trials.

During a recent trial, the judge collected US$25 from perpetrators.

Sherlock, who is in his mid-50s, said some of the worst offenders were people his own age, who should know better."

Singing in the rain. Audio umbrella for a rainny day

"Music in the Rain" is a concept for a musical umbrella designed by SDESIGNUNIT.

Open it up and tunes instantly begin to play through the canopy. Spin the umbrella to the left or right and you’ll be able to move between tracks.

You can also put it in the corner of your living room with its cradle, to enjoy the music from speakers.

[Most Wanted via Core77]

Jibbs phones home with 1.4 million ringtone sales

St. Louis rapper Jibbs got a special — perhaps dubious — mention in the newest Billboard magazine. The story points out that some rap artists are making up for low CD sales with big ringtone sales and cited “Chain Hang Low” by Jibbs.

Billboard says he sold nearly 200,000 copies of the “Jibbs feat. Jibbs” CD. But he sold more than 1.4 million ringtones at $2 a pop, amounting to $2.8 million in auxiliary sales."

[via STLtoday]

People change ringtone regularly… but don’t pay for it

New research from analyst Informa Telecoms & Media indicates that UK mobile users are changing their ringtone regularly, but aren’t paying to do it.

The company surveyed 1,870 people, and found that 51% had changed ringtone in the last six months, but that in the last three months, only 13% of users had paid for a new ringtone.

Probably more and more people are downloading MP3 tunes from their computers onto their music phones, and then using them as the ringtones". I know for a fact that's what kids are doing where I live.

[Pocket-Picks via MocoNews]

Revealed: the worst sounds in the world

London's Metro paper has listed the most offensive sounds to the human ear. They are based on a study by Prof Trevor Cox, of the acoustic research centre at Salford University.

"Vomiting topped a list of 34 horrible sounds voted on by more than 1.1million people in a worldwide online experiment.

It beat microphone feedback (second), violins (sixth), farting (seventh) and soap opera arguments (ninth) as the noises we hate most.

The one sound calculated to have more men than women running for cover was babies crying.

And here at Ringtonia we are totally offended, as ringtones are listed as the 12th most appaling sound, before creaky doors and after coughing.

Sony BMG, Warner Music in joint mobile music venture

Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group have partnered with a joint venture operating in China that develops technology for distributing music downloads and other content to mobile phones, reports the AP.

"... The music rivals' investment also gives them some say in how the technology works and, perhaps most importantly, helps protect their recording artists' music from unauthorized copying.

Mobile phone networks are more secure than the Internet. Still, record labels are keen on avoiding the problems piracy poses with CDs and online content through unauthorized file-sharing."

Last fews day for Textually's short survey

Textually.org Network's short survey is online for just another few days.

Many thanks for taking just a few minutes of your time to answer it's questions - if you haven't already.

Record Labels Contemplate Unrestricted Digital Music

As even digital music revenue growth falters because of rampant file-sharing by consumers, the major record labels are moving closer to releasing music on the Internet with no copying restrictions — a step they once vowed never to take. The New York Times reports.

"... At least one of the four major record companies could move toward the sale of unrestricted digital files in the MP3 format within months.

Most independent record labels already sell tracks digitally compressed in the MP3 format, which can be downloaded, e-mailed or copied to computers, cellphones, portable music players and compact discs without limit.

The independents see providing songs in MP3 partly as a way of generating publicity that could lead to future sales.

For the major recording companies, however, selling in the MP3 format would be a capitulation to the power of the Internet, which has destroyed their control over the worldwide distribution of music.

Until last year, the industry was counting on online purchases of music, led by Apple’s iTunes music store, to make up the difference.

But digital sales in 2006, while 80 percent ahead of the year before, grew slower than in 2005 and did not compensate for the decline in physical sales, according to an industry report released in London last week."

Infospace Hit with Ringtone Lawsuit

Infospace has been hit by a US$100 million lawsuit from the music publisher, EMI, reports Cellular News.

"The complaint alleges that InfoSpace and its subsidiaries Moviso and Premium Wireless Services have been underpaying royalties and selling ringtones for songs to which they hold no licensing rights.

The lawsuit also claims that InfoSpace has "engaged in a deliberate effort to frustrate and obstruct the audit rights held by plaintiffs pursuant to license agreements."

Independent Record Labels Agree To Pool Their Music for Online amnd mobile Sale

Independent record labels behind artists like The White Stripes, Deep Purple and Arctic Monkeys announced a global deal Saturday to pool access to their catalogs, seeking to grab a bigger share of digital music sales from the major record companies. The WSJ reports.

"Indies and their trade groups from more than a dozen countries signed on to Merlin, a nonprofit licensing agency that will cut deals on their behalf with download sites and mobile services, under the terms of the agreement unveiled at Midem, a music industry gathering in the French Riviera town of Cannes.

... Billed as a "one-stop licensing shop," Merlin will allow online stores and other digital platforms to access its members' music in one deal, rather than the thousands of separate contracts they would otherwise have to negotiate. Labels will also be able to continue selling independently through their existing distribution networks."

iPhone Ringtone Sheet Music

NYC musician Andy Neesley has written the sheet music of the iPhone ringtone for Gizmodo. How cool is that?

The iPhone Ringtone

Listen to the iPhone ringtone. Courtesy of Gizmodo

Please take the short Textually Network survey

The textually blogs, including Ringtonia.com, have recently been accepted into the Federated Media Publishing network, and as part of the initial process of starting up, FM asks their Authors to run a survey on their site.

The survey asks pretty standard questions of their audiences, so as to make better matches between marketers and an author's sites.

Many thanks for taking a minute to fill out this short survey , and letting us know more about you.

It'll help make the Textually blogs and FM more successful - without reader input, there's not a business in the first place. Thanks in advance, and please let me know if you have any trouble or input.

Music mobiles boost Sony Ericsson

According to the BBC, strong demand for mobile phone handsets that can download music have boosted sales and profits at Sony.

"The firm sold 60 million music-enabled phones last year as overall sales rose by 23 million to 74.8 million units.

... It expects global sales of handsets to total about 980 million, considerably above the 950 million figure predicted by analysts."

Hitler themed satire ringtone - most popular ringtone in Germany

In a review of a new comedy called “Mein Fuhrer” by Dani Levy, on Adolf Hitler which is stirring ambivalence in Berlin, McClatchy Newspapers reports on other Hitler themed movies with an interesting tidbit related to this column:

"In 2006, a short cartoon titled “Der Bonker” — the bunker, misspelled — showed a grumpy Hitler with a very large nose singing about the bombs being dropped on him. A song from that cartoon became one of 2006’s most popular ringtones in Germany.

Watch clip on YouTube or listen to ringtone on Jamba.

"There she is, Miss America" Ringtone

"There she is, Miss America," the famous pageant tune, is available to download from the Country Music Network.

According to the Post-Gazette "industry insiders are saying that it's the pageant's ploy to stay in the ratings race, since no one seemed to watch it when it aired on ABC.

Now that Miss America has moved to her new home at CMT, it has become the network's most-watched show, according MediaNewsDaily.

Ringtones, marketing gurus are saying, might maintain the momentum".

Phillips cordless phone emits differing ringtones for landline or Skype calls

Philips's new VoIP841 cordless handset can make both land-line and Internet calls via Skype and has a snazzy feature, it's able to emit different ringtones to signal whether a call is coming from a land line or from Skype."

[via PCWorld]

Ringback tones grew in 2006

According to M:Metrics, while ringtone purchasing leveled off in the US, and actually declined in Europe, ringback tones where ringing up increased sales. eMarketer reports.

"Ringbacks grew in the US at a rate of 225% from the quarter ended January to the quarter ended November.

During the same period, ringback subscriptions also grew across Europe: 150% in Germany and 146% in the UK. Between July and November, ringbacks grew 12.8% in France and 11% in Spain. "

New app enables music streaming to PCs

A new online music service lets people share music stored on their PCs with other computer users or those with Web-enabled mobile phones, reports Reuters .

"Using the free Avvenue Music Player launching this week, users can select tracks they wish to share and send links to friends via e-mail. Recipients click on the link to listen to the songs for up to five days on standard Web browsers.

To share songs, users also must download and install the Avvenu software — the beta version allows users to share up to 250 tracks for free through Avvenu's servers, though direct sharing imposes no limits.

... Avvenu officials insist their service is legal because recipients don't retain copies of songs — the streams only work when there's an Internet connection, and only for five days."

Warner Music and Motorola team for mobile music

Warner Music Group and Motorola have teamed up in a partnership designed to both develop new mobile music experiences and jointly promote each other`s products. Monsters and Critics.com reports.

"According to the companies, the deal will offer Motorola customers exclusive WMG content such as pre-loaded and over-the-air full-length songs, ringtones, music videos. The first iteration of this is expected to be the MOTO Experience Pack, a 'mobile album' of sorts that delivers in a single file a variety of products specific to an individual artist-including ringtones, full-length songs, wallpaper images, etc."

iPhone Ringing Looks Like This

Apple's iPhone ringing looks like this. [via Gizmodo]

Digital Music Sales To More Than Double In Five Years

Amid a continued decline in sales of compact discs, U.S. digital music sales will climb to about $2.5 billion annually by 2011, more than doubling from about $1 billion in 2006, JupiterResearch said Monday in an industry forecast. Forbes reports.

"By 2011, digital sales will account for about 22% of total U.S. music sales, compared to just 6% in 2005. JupiterResearch’s digital sales figures don’t include revenue from cellphone ringtones, which the firm expects will represent an eye-popping 12% of overall music sales in 2011."

Nokia says sold almost 40 million multimedia phones in 2006

Nokia said on Monday it had sold close to 40 million multimedia phones in 2006 and nearly 70 million music phones. Reuters reports.

"It said the total multimedia phone market was 90 million units in 2006, and is expected to grow to 250 million units in 2008."

Lifepop connects MP3 mobile phones to mini speaker bags

Lifepop has just launched portable mini speaker bags and cases made specifically for MP3 mobile phones. [via ecoustics.com]

These easy-to-use, convenient, fashionable and hip products deliver 1400 milliwatts of hi-fi sound via the ultra-lightweight Atom™ class amplifier and drivers. All operate on one replaceable 9-volt battery for up to 12-hours of listening. In addition, bags are compatible with all portable audio devices on the market.

Art ringtone silences cellphones

Artist Jonathon Keats has digitally generated four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence for cellphone. His silent ringtone, freely distributed through Start Mobile, is expected to bring quiet to the lives of millions of cellphone users, as well as those close to them.

The ringtone is inspired by the silent interlude that another artist, John Cage, had tried, and failed, to create a silent interlude, back in 1952. Cage once famously composed four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence, which was performed on a piano, in front of a live audience.

"My Cage (Silence for Cellphone)" dispenses with performer and piano and auditorium, instead utilizing a continuous stream of silence produced on a computer, and compressed to standard ringtone format.

While noting that Mr. Keats doesn't have a cellphone of his own, and may be less-than-qualified to make global pronouncements about them, Start Mobile CEO John Doffing believes that "My Cage" may be a platinum hit. "People want a respite," he says, "and not everybody has the time or money to go to a spa. The virtues of silence are unsung."

Related:

-- Modtones launches a silent ringtone.
-- A Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears.

Music Legends in new Nokia Nseries

Nokia Nseries, the multimedia sub-brand of Nokia joined hands with the Indian Music Industry to announce , ‘Legends of India’, a new initiative by both companies which will provide preloaded music collections on new Nokia Nseries handsets.

"Nokia Nseries, Legends of India enabled phones (N70, N73, and N91) will contain a compilation of 100 DRM compliant songs by Indian music legends such as Jagjit Singh, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Kishore Kumar, RD Burman and Mohd Rafi. These enhanced variants of Nseries phones will come with expanded in built storage when compared to the older versions."

[via Express Computer Online]