iPhone ad ringtones

If you are interested in getting the ringtone you hear at the end of every iPhone television ad, You can download it here for free thanks to Sean over at Lifeclever:

To install, just download it. Then, use iTunes to put it on your iPhone.

Apparently, it’s doesn’t come installed on the iPhone. You can’t even buy it from the iTunes Music Store.

If like me, you love the music that plays throughout the ad, "Perfect Timing" by Orba Squara, you can download it on your computer here, from iPhoneAlley.

[via TUWA]

Free music may cripple Nokia financially

Nokia's "Comes With Music" program, offering those who purchase Nokia phones nearly unlimited free access to a large music database, could cost the company more than it would make.

According to The Register, Nokia would be responsible for footing the bill for downloads that exceed the estimated limit of 35 songs per user, charged wholesale per unit. The move reportedly pressured Ed Averdieck, former Managing Director of Nokia Music, to leave his position.

[via electronista

Mobile Music on Track in Germany

The mobile music market in Germany has long focused on ringtones, but full-track downloads are selling in increasingly larger numbers, reports eMarketer.

"According to new figures from BITKOM and GfK Panel Services, 5.2 million full-track songs were downloaded to mobile phones last year, an increase of 53% over 2006.

Revenues grew by one-third to hit €8 million ($11 million), while the average price of a song dropped to €1.42 ($1.95).

Greater memory capacity and the increased uptake of faster mobile services are helping fuel the growth.

Downloading of ringtones, meanwhile, is on the decline. German mobile users downloaded 23.2 million ringtones in 2007, a notable drop from 29.2 million in 2006.

Ringtone revenues fell 26% to €53 million ($73 million). That is still more than six times the revenue for full-track downloads, but if current trends continue, ringtones' dominant position may not hold."

Digital Procuts/iPOD Tax

Tennessee Republicans are raising the alarm about a new tax proposal they say the Bredesen administration is formulating, reports WDEF News 12.

"They say the Department of Revenue is considering a Digital Procuts/iPOD Tax.

An analysis by a Nashville law firm claims that it would make digital purchases of movies, music, news and entertainment programs, ringtones, and electronic books subject to the retail sales tax."

Digital Products/iPOD Tax. The Bill contains sweeping legislation that would subject downloaded sales of digital media, including music videos, motion pictures, news and entertainment programs, music, ringtones, electronic books, etc. to the retail sales tax. Under current law digitally delivered goods are not taxable unless delivered in a tangible form.

Sex and The City (the movie) Ringtones

New Line Records will release the original soundtrack of the feature film version of the beloved HBO television series "Sex And The City," which is due in theaters on May 30th. And exclusive ringtones for the soundtrack will be available on April 25th by texting "SEXCITY" to 71777.

[via Press release]

Nokia Music Store France goes live

Nokia Conversations reports on the opening today of the French Nokia Music Store.

"The opening follows yesterday's launch of the Nokia Music Store in Australia and the recent launches earlier this month in Ireland and the Netherlands.

Over 2.5 million tracks will be available from EU1 each or EU10 ($1.59) per album. Users are also able to subscribe for EU10 ($15.89) per month to get unlimited access to the music of their choice.

Like the other stores, the French edition includes music from local artists. Local music makes up 60 per cent of the songs in the French 'Hit Parade'.

Free music will also be on offer to users every week to help new artists get discovered."

Canada. Ringtones now qualify for 'gold' and 'platinum' status

FP Post reports that the Canadian Recording Industry Association has started issuing "gold" and "platinum" designations for downloads of songs as ringtones.

"The first awards were announced on Tuesday, with 43 tunes certified as platinum and 17 noted as gold.

In Canada, 40,000 downloads qualifies a ringtone for platinum status, with 20,000 needed for gold.

As a point of comparison, unit sales of 50,000 of a CD or vinyl album are needed for an album to be deemed gold, with 100,000 required for platinum."

Nokia signs Sony BMG for free music offering

Nokia will offer free 12-month access to music from artists of Sony BMG, the world's second-biggest label, to buyers of its particular music phones, the world's top cellphone maker said on Tuesday. Reuters reports.

"... Sony BMG, home to artists including Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and Celine Dion, is jointly owned by Sony Corp and German media group Bertelsmann AG.

The new music offering from Nokia -- the first cellphone maker to push heavily into content -- would differ from any other package on the market as users can keep all the music they have downloaded during the 12 months."

Apple Considering 'Free' Access to iTunes Library

Apple is talking with the major record labels about a change in the iTunes Store business model that would give customers free access to the store's complete music library, according to The Financial Times. The catch is that consumers would pay a premium for Apple's iPod and iPhone devices.

[via Mobile tech Today]

Devotional music dominates mobile VAS market

Indians have a strong affinity for Bollywood and devotional music, which they like to listen to ‘on-the-go.’ No wonder, there is a huge demand for such ringtones and caller tunes. The mobile VAS market, which includes about 25% of the total music business in the country, is dominated by these music categories.

Mobile music downloads, comprising mainly Bollywood, spiritual and even regional genres, is growing rapidly. These are expected to make India’s mobile music market worth $800 million by 2009, up from $100 million in 2005.

[via India Economic Times]

Exclusive Underground Remix of '4 Minutes' on Verizon Wireless

Verizon and Vodafone announced that they've teamed up with Madonna, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake to deliver the "mobile underground remix" of Madonna's highly-anticipated debut single "4 Minutes" from her upcoming album "Hard Candy."

Fans who download the full-song, ringtone or ringback tone through Verizon Wireless' V CAST Music service will also have a chance to win a barcoded ticket to the exclusive Madonna performance on April 30 at New York's famed Roseland Ballroom.

[via intomobile]

Full Track Downloads In Japan Rise 91 Percent In 2007

Mobile music is again the shining light in Japan, making up for the decline in CD sales. [via MocoNews]

“Total music sales for 2007 in Japan came to $4.66 billion. While CD/DVD sales declined 4 percent from the previous year, digital downloads jumped up 41 percent to $755 million, comprising 16 percent of all music sold in Japan.

Mobile downloads accounted for $680 million, more than 90 percent of the total figure for digital sales.

Within the mobile sector, full-track downloads showed the strongest growth, rising 91 percent over the previous year” writes J@pan Inc in its Music Media Watch newsletter, quoting the RIAJ Yearbook 2008."

Image from future perfect.

Is the taxman eyeing iTunes?

MacWorld on how California narrowly avoided a digital tax and how the fight is far from over.

"This week, a controversial proposal in the California State Assembly that would have extended the state’s sales tax to include digital downloads of media such as books, movies, and music (including ringtones) was narrowly defeated in a hearing of that body’s budget committee.

... Assemblyman Calderon estimated that the additional taxes from downloads which would also cover the immensely lucrative digital pornography market—could bring $500 million in annual additional revenue into the state of California, which has suffered from significant budget shortfalls in recent years. "

Image fromThe Tax Club.

The new musical univers

Technology developed by Scottish scientists could increase the iPod's capacity so much that it will be able to store up to 125 million songs – almost 400 million minutes of music. Scotsman reports.

"The new components, devised by researchers at Glasgow University, could allow up to 500,000 gigabytes of storage on a microchip about the size of a 2p coin. The largest capacity of the current iPod is just 160Gb.

The new component would give a storage limit which is 3,125 times the current maximum capacity."

MTV phone to launch in France

French operator SFR will target young music fans by launching an MTV-branded phone next week. [via Mobile Entertainment]

"The MTV3.3 slider includes MTV content such as videos, logos, wallpapers, original ringtones created by DJ Cut Killer and the MTV Cribs mobile game. It will also have easy access to MTV news, music channels and made-for-mobile channels.

Five free songs will be made available for download each month."

Growth in ringback tones energizes mobile market

As the cash cow that was the ringtones market slowly heads to pasture, the music industry is turning to a new mobile stud -- ringback tones. Reuters reports.

Ringbacks -- the music you hear when you call someone -- represent the only area of significant growth for mobile music-related applications in the last year. The number of mobile subscribers who reported purchasing a ringback tone increased 69% from February 2007 to February 2008, according to data from M:Metrics.

By comparison, neither ringtones nor wallpaper images could keep pace with the overall market growth, increasing by only 4.3% and 6.2%, respectively, in the same time frame."

"The growth of ringbacks is among the fastest trajectory for growth of any services we're tracking," M:Metrics analyst Mark Donovan says.

Mobile Music Numbers added up

According to data from research firm M:Metrics, only about 15% of mobile users even buy ringtones, and far less buy full songs, ringback tones and other products.

... Digital music revenue in total contributes roughly 30% to labels' overall revenue pie. Mobile makes up about half that total, with ringtones making up about 75% of the mobile figure. So at best, all other mobile music applications combined contribute maybe 3% to a label's bottom line.

[via Reuters]

Cell phone controlled Jukebox

LocaModa has partnered with Touch Tunes to connect 30,000 jukeboxes to social networks; the jukeboxes are controlled using cell phones.

Patrons can use their mobile phones to interact with flat panel screens driven by the TouchTunes jukebox’s media server.

Applications will feature relevant, fun content such as information about the music playing on the jukebox, user generated content and even patron photos via their social network profiles.

All interactions can also be displayed as data feeds on social networks. Online users will be able to view and participate in the activity at their favorite locations, for example: they can see who has “fanned” the location, who is actually there, what music is currently playing, and they can even “gift” songs to friends at that location.

[via The Web Outside]

The Farting (Home) Phone

Fashion Funky has dug up a Farting home Phone.

Equally as refined ringtones have been available for cell phones for ever.

Arphiola launches annoying Out-Of-Tune ringtones

Arphiola has announced the official launch of their 'Out-Of-Tune ' ringtones after a successful pre-launch in selected markets.

Out-Of-Tune ringtones are ugly and annoying re-productions of popular songs and TV and movie themes. "An excellent way of demonstrating that you are really, really tired of that song", said Bjorn-Ivar with a smile. Available titles in the Out-Of-Tune library includes MacGywer, Grace Kelly, You're beautiful, James Bond etc and is updated frequently.

[via Phone Content]

Love, Death, and Ringtones

Sarah Ruhl’s latest takes on the metaphysics of cell phones. The Chicago Tribune's review of the play "Dead Man’s Cell Phone".

Alicia Keys Goes Gold On Ringback Tones

In the US, the RCA Music Group has announced Alicia Keyes hit single "No One" recently became the first ever Gold-selling ringback (the sound you hear when calling someone else) tune.

This means sales of snippets of the song to be used as a ringback have exceeded 500,000 copies or the same number required to achieve Gold status in the album, single and ringtone charts.

[via Smarthouse]

Home copying - burnt into teenage psyche

More than half of young people copy the songs on their hard drives to friends and even more swap CD copies, according to research that reveals the huge challenge home copying poses to a music industry already battling internet file-sharing, reports The Guardian.

"Three decades after cassette decks first allowed people to make free music tapes for friends, a study by the industry group British Music Rights suggests home copying remains just as ingrained in UK culture.

The industry's anti-piracy efforts have largely focused on illegal online music swapping - with estimates suggesting only one in 20 digital downloads is paid for. But the online problem is potentially dwarfed by "offline copying", argues BMR. Its research, carried out by the University of Hertfordshire, suggests that, for 18-24-year-olds, home copying remains more popular than file sharing. Two-thirds of people it surveyed copy five CDs a month from friends."

Chinese Firms Face the Music On Downloads

A Chinese court has agreed to consider copyright-infringement cases against two China-based Internet heavyweights that offer illicit music downloading, potentially opening Chinese companies to hefty damage claims they have previously dodged.

The music-industry lawsuits claim $9 million in damages against and $7.5 million against Sogou, the music-delivery service operated by Sohu.com.

... While the dollar amounts are small because they are based on claims of infringement for just a few hundred songs, this is the highest amount the music industry has sued for in China.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Courts disagree on legality of uploading

Leaving a copyrighted song where others can get at it with peer-to-peer software doesn't constitute a copyright violation until someone downloads it, a federal judge said in a record industry lawsuit against college students. [via the Associated Press]

"The Boston judge's comments in a Monday pretrial ruling conflict with statements, also made Monday, by a New York federal judge that leaving a copyrighted file accessible could be illegal, even if nobody downloads it.

At issue in both cases is whether people who initially download or own copyrighted music are legally liable if they leave music files accessible to be shared by others. Peer-to-peer sharing services allow computer users to make files on their PCs available to a multitude of other users."

MySpace to offer new music download service

MySpace is set to launch a new music download service that will allow users to download songs, mobile phone ringtones and desktop wallpapers from the site. NME reports.

"Merchandise and gig tickets will also be sold from artists' profile pages.

However, the company have not yet confirmed how much music downloads and other services will cost.

Major labels Sony BMG, Universal and Warner Music Group have already signed up to the new MySpace Music service.

MySpace has explained that the new services will be available from a MySpace Music homepage, set to be unveiled over the coming months."

Apple passes Wal-Mart, now #1 music retailer in US

According to ars technica, Apple is now the #1 music retailer in US.

"The fact that a digital-only retailer has ascended to the top of the sales charts is not unexpected, but it does demonstrate just how much the music landscape has changed since the beginning of the decade.

The NPD Group has been tracking a "sharp increase" in digital downloads over the past several months as physical sales dry up.

According to NPD's research, 48 percent of US teens didn't buy a single CD in 2007, compared to 38 percent in 2006."

Video ringtones for Facebook users

Vringo has announced a new Facebook application enabling users to import their Facebook friends’ profile photos to their mobiles, automatically matching them to contacts.

When Facebook friends call one another, their friend’s photos will appear on their phone screens as a type of visual caller ID.

The app will initially be offered free on a global basis for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices. It will be available for additional handsets in the near future.

[via Mobile Entertainment]