Ringtone website at odds with record labels, phone carrier

Deerfield Beach-based Myxer.com allows users to download and create their own ringtones and other mobile content for free. Users can also upload their content to share with others, and lesser-known artists have embraced it to market their music by offering ringtones and wallpapers. The Miami Herald reports.

But the past few months have been complicated for Myxer. In June, several major music labels, including Virgin Records and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, filed a lawsuit against Myxer, because it is possible for users to upload and share music that they don't own the rights to. In the same month, Verizon blocked its customers from getting Myxer content sent from the website directly to their phones because not all the content met Verizon's standards.

Read full article.

iTunes Raising Prices in Face of Competition

Starting April 7, Apple will give up it's unique price policy and raise the prices of a number of its hottest tracks to $1.29 as part of a new "variable pricing" strategy that will allow music publishers to sell tracks at various price points. Publishers can also sell tracks for less than $.99, which may open the door for smaller artists to get a little more traction in a very busy online store.

[via Switched]

Coldplay's "Life In Technicolor" sounds like a ringtone

Coldplay took a very different direction for its fourth album - Viva La Vida - and many said it is the most experimental offering. One of the songs even sounds like a ringtone. Channel News Asia reports.

Chris Martin, Coldplay's vocalist, said: "It was a little flippant but there's some truth in that because we were speaking to our friend yesterday and she said that ringtones are more popular in some places in the world than songs.

"So when we had the song "Life In Technicolor" we kept it because the melody was like a ringtone... so I was being a bit flippant but with a pinch of truth."

Springfield Symphony offering free ringtones

Beethoven's ninth is now a ringtone — brought to you by an unlikely source of ringtones, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Springfield News-Sun reports.

"Symphony orchestras can be relevant in the 21st century," said operations director Robyn Zimmann, "and are relevant."

What started as an idea by the symphony's audience development committee is now a reality. The SSO is offering free cell phone ringtones — short clips of the orchestra in concert — on its Web site.

The SSO is offering four ringtones (plus two phone wallpapers) to start with, but let's be brutally honest here — Mozart isn't Lil Wayne, and "Eine Kleine Nachtmusic" ain't "Lollipop."

AT&T exec: ISP will never terminate service on RIAA's word

The ISP says there is a lot of misinformation swirling about letters it sent to customers but wants to make it clear: there will be no disruptions of service.

[via News.com]

Related: - AT&T first to test RIAA antipiracy plan

Ringtone Shuffler

Now this is a good idea. Ringtone Shuffler enables you to hear a different custom ringtone that you have put on your phone, every time a call comes. A great feature when you have many custom ringtones and you want to enjoy all of them.

Ringtone Shuffler is available for BlackBerry, Windows Mobile SmartPhones, Palm Treos and Centros, Android or T -Mobile G1 and iPhones.

AT&T first to test RIAA antipiracy plan

Cnet news reports from a digital music conference in Nashville where Jim Cicconi, a senior executive for AT&T told the audience that the ISP has begun issuing takedown notices to people accused of pirating music by the RIAA, according to one music industry insider who was present.

Representatives of the RIAA and AT&T could not be reached late Tuesday evening for comment.

Related:

-- Sarkozy move to punish illegal downloaders sparks liberties row

-- UK Anti-piracy plan to make ISPs liable for illegal downloads

-- Illegal downloaders 'face UK ban'

-- Hollywood Wants Internet Providers to Block Copyrighted Files

-- French plan e-mail warnings for illegal downloads

-- France set to cut Web access for music, film pirates

Italian operators fined over ringtone subscriptions

Italy's competition authority has fined various content suppliers and mobile operators a total of EUR 2.2 million for improper commercial practices regarding the sale of ringtones and multimedia content. Trading Markets reports.

According to the regulator, the promotional messages did not clearly state that by requesting the service, users did not only download the single ringtone but also subscribed to a subscription billed weekly from the phone bill. Also, the costs were unclear and it was difficult to dis-activate the service.

Among the operators fined are Telecom Italia (EUR 640,000), Vodafone Italia (EUR 560,000), Wind (EUR 480,000) and 3 Italia (EUR 155,000). The list of content suppliers fined includes Dada (EUR 125,000), Buongiorno (EUR 115,000), Zed (EUR 95,000) and Zeng (EUR 55,000).

Sales Tax Could Apply To Digital Music Under Bill

Cell phone ringtones, digital books and music downloads would be subject to sales tax in Minnesota under new bills introduced Monday in the House and Senate. WCO

Senate Taxes Chairman Tom Bakk had hinted last week that a sales tax on music downloads and other digital products could be part of the Democrats' plan to help the state raise more revenue. Minnesota lawmakers are working to fill a two-year $4.6 billion budget deficit.

Song.ly Lets You Share Music Via Twitter

Song.ly lets your share and discover music on
Twitter.

Song.ly takes the URL of an MP3, shortens it for Twitter so that a user can tweet the url of the song, and then puts it into a compact Flash player for listening.

More in TechCrunch

Mouth Off

Spotted on TrendHunter, demo videos of lip-synching app MouthOff which syncs an animated mouth in real time with the sound of your own voice. Fun!

In their own words:

Choose from 8 different mouths - Rude Boy, Robot, Synth, Grandma, Kiss-me-quick, Angry-Emperor, Dog or Monster. You wanna be a rude boy for the day? Then whip out the gold toothed look, or maybe you want to bring out your feminine side? So slap on some kiss-me-quick lips!

KanonDrum

My son showed me a new app he downloaded on his iPhone called KanonDrum. It's a drum kit simulation app.

You can play the drums with your fingers along with the music. Fabulous.

Make the favorite part of a song your ringtone

Mobile music and entertainment company mSpot introduces mspot.com, the mobile music site that lets users personalize their phones by turning their favorite part of any song, up to 30 seconds long, into a ringtone. SOAWorld Magazine explains how it works.

Users pick a song from mSpot's catalog of over 400,000 titles, and use the site's simple editing tool to drag the start and end points to capture up to 30 seconds of their favorite part, even adding an optional fade in and out feature at each end if they like. Once the highlighted piece is finalized and previewed, users save and download the cut as a ringtone for $2.99 a pop. Takes about one minute, start to finish, and users don't need to download software or subscribe to a service.

Your Music Player is Ringing

Nokia on music phones.

[via Nokia Conversations]

Mobile phone makers use Arab singers to push deeper into the UAE

Nancy Ajram is the latest of many popular Arab singers used by major mobile phone makers to push deeper into the UAE and other regional markets. According to Business 24-7, the trend gained momentum after the global financial crisis and concerns that it could reverse years of steady local growth.

Sony Ericsson's archrival, Samsung, has also enlisted popular singers from Lebanon and other Arab countries to expand its market share. LG, another major mobile phone producer, has introduced several new models carrying portraits of singers while Nokia, the world's largest mobile handset maker, has just marketed a phone uploaded with scores of Arab songs with the help of Rotana Music.

Sony Ericsson, the largest investor in promotional campaigns in the UAE, has backed up its Nancy phone with a real-life portrait of the singer, distributed to all shops on Defence Road, the main mobile phone shopping centre in the capital. The portrait is placed at the entrance of the shops and is done in a way that Nancy's eyes follow the onlookers wherever they move.

Nokia virtual music event on March 11

Nokia will be holding an online virtual music event this Wednesday, March 11.

Hosted at events.nokia.com the online event kicks off at 10am CET and will see live Q&A sessions running between 10-11am CET and 5-6pm CET.

Nokia Conversations we’ll be providing a feed direct to the Nokia events site, reporting all the news, dishing up photo galleries and new videos.

Can I control my iPod by blinking?

Engineers at Osaka University have developed a new system for controlling electronic devices that could enable people to navigate through the tracks on their MP3 player simply with a wink or smile. The Guardian reports.

The device - which has been nicknamed the "Mimi Switch" – consists of a small earbud that is capable of measuring movements in the wearer's temple. Different actions or facial expressions result in a variety of actions, depending on how the system is programmed.

"An iPod can start or stop music when the wearer sticks his tongue, like in the famous Einstein picture," suggested lead researcher Kazuhiro Taniguchi. "If he opens his eyes wide, the machine skips to the next tune. A wink with the right eye makes it go back."

... The research paper detailing the Mimi Switch, which was actually published last year in the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics, has suddenly resurfaced after being picked up online – but it is far from being the only invention of its kind.

Read full article.

Universal Music Group Beats Eminem Suit

Universal Music Group announced they won a jury verdict over digital royalties in a lawsuit brought by FBT Productions LLC, who worked with rapper Eminem early in his career. According to a source at Universal, the jury's verdict was unanimous. Billboard reports.

The Bass Brothers' FBT Productions and Joel Martin's Em2M filed a lawsuit in May 2007 against Aftermath Records, Interscope Records and others over the split of digital royalties due for Eminem's recordings. The suit claimed that the labels should be paying half of the net receipts from downloads and master ringtones rather than the lesser artist royalty rate based on sales.

Related:

-- Eminem settles ringtones action (2006)

-- Eminem bid to block net ringtones (2006)

-- Eminem begins ringtone legal action (2005)

TED conference ringtones

If you want your ringtone to say something special about you, than this is for you. The famous TED Conferences, an annual event that defines its mission as "ideas worth spreading", has launched it's own TED-themed ringtones.

The catchy music that introduces every TEDTalk is now available as free ringtones.

Both the current "TEDTalks Phase II" theme and the familiar "TEDTalks Classic" jingle are available.

And, very soon, TED may add a few priceless TEDTalks sound clips.

TEDTalks themes were composed and recorded by Michael Montes.

Live iPhone musical performance

The Mentalists play Kids by MGMT on their iPhones and iPod Touches, using only apps downloaded from the Apple App Store. Apps used Ocarina, Retro Synth, miniSynth, DigiDrummer Lite.

[via Trendhunter]

Why Imeem’s Music Isn’t Free on Cellphones

How’s this for a music business model: What you listen to on your computer is free, but you’ve got to pay for the tracks on your cellphone.

That is the deal behind a new mobile music application from Imeem, the big music-oriented social network. Bits Blog reports.

Imeem’s claim to fame is that it is the first site that lets users stream most any song legally, paying the bills with advertising and the sale of downloadable tracks. But you can’t pick your songs on the company’s latest mobile application, which works for now only on phones using Google’s Android operating system.

Depeche Mode debuts iTunes season-pass model

Apple's introduces the new iTunes Pass model with veteran band Dépêche Mode, which records on the EMI label. [via stuff]

Similar to the Season Pass model iTunes implemented in March 2006 for TV show downloads, the iTunes Pass lets artists sell a range of products for one flat price and deliver them throughout a given period of time.

As the first act to take advantage of the program, Depeche Mode is offering two exclusive singles to fans who sign up for the US$19 bundle, which includes a pre-order for the album.

Mobile Music To Hit $14.6 Billion In 2013

From mocoNews:

Juniper Research has predicted that the total mobile music services market will hit nearly $14.6 billion by 2013. Although there will be a sharp fall in ringtone revenues as users find alternatives this will be more than offset by growth in full-track downloads, streamed music services and ringback tones.

Driving the growth are improvements in technology (higher memory, handset form factors, reduction of data costs) as well as an increase in the willingness of major labels to participate in mobile ventures. User-generated content will also help raise the total.

This is a massive reduction from their predictions of a year ago, when Juniper thought total mobile music sales would hit $17.6 billion by 2012.