Create Ringtones! Available in AppStore

Create Ringtones!, developed by 2010 App Beast is now available for free in the App Store.

[via American Consumer News]

Study: Earphone-Loving Teens Can Hear Just Fine

Despite the ubiquity of ear- and headphones for listening to music or cell phone conversations, a survey of more than 4300 12 to 19 year olds found no significant increase in hearing loss between 1988-1994 and 2005-2006. TIME reports.

The study, which questioned adolescents about their exposure to loud noise or music through headphones in the previous 24 hours, found that 15.9% of teens experienced some change in their hearing between 1988-1994, while a similar 16.8% of adolescents showed the same shifts between 2005-2006.

Read full article.

Related articles linked to hearing loss in teens.

Adverblog on two innovative ringtones campaigns

Adverblog on two innovative campaigns where ringtones are used.

First one is "Ringtowns", from Ogilvy Guatemala and their client Claro, using ringtones as a device of spreading the service itself, naming them after all the cities in the country (click the image to see the video explaining the case):

The other one is "Os Ringtonicos" ("The Ringtonics"), from Almap BBDO for an NGO called "Casa do Zezinho", whose kids recorded ringtones using their voices to raise money for buying musical instruments:

Watch videos.

FM in Cellphones Emerges, Slowly

Radio functionality may not be ubiquitous in cellphones; but it is indeed available if you look for it. That’s one conclusion Radio World draws when reviewing options offered by electronics companies this holiday shopping season.

Click here for a sampling of how radio showed up in a buffet of consumer electronics devices in this 2010 holiday sales season.

News Corp Sells Ringtone Subsidiary

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has continued its withdrawl from the mobile content market and sold Fox Mobile Group to the Jesta Group for an undisclosed amount, reports Cellular News.

Its brands include Jamba, Jamster, Mobizzo and Bitbop.News Corp spent a total of $388 million to acquire Jamba, taking a majority stake in 2006 and buying it outright from VeriSign in 2008. The company has however been trying to sell it again for at least the past year after the mobile content market cooled in favour of apps stores.

Read full article.

Sony Launches Subscription Internet Music Service

Sony launched a subscription streaming music service on Wednesday, furthering its plan to offer a range of content via the Internet to its consumer electronics devices. PCWorld reports.

The service, called "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity," will initially be available in the U.K. and Ireland, but Sony plans to expand it to more countries in 2011.

It expects to add at least Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, New Zealand and the U.S. next year.

Read full article.

Legendary Composer Ennio Morricone Makes Beautiful Music for LG Smartphones

LG Electronics (LG) today announced the release of an exclusive collection of music and ringtones written by movie soundtrack maestro Ennio Morricone. The first such collaboration of its kinds, both newly composed pieces as well as a selection from Morricone's legendary oeuvre.

[via The Korea Times]

New app lets you record music from FM radio without ads or interruptions

ThinkDigit reports on an application in development which will allow users to record music from FM radio, sans commercials and radio jockey chatter.

Using recording technology developed by PopCatcher, Longcheer India’s mobile application records songs in a step by step manner. It first observes programs aired in the radio, then it filters out commercials and radio talk and finally it saves the song. This application is easy to use and saves music from a user’s favourite radio station directly on to the device.

Read full article. Image from technabob.

Apple owns 66% of online music market, Amazon second at 13%

iTunes now makes up 66.2 percent of the online music market, according to new numbers from NPD, with Amazon coming in second with 13.3 percent for the third quarter of 2010.

[via arstechnica]

Illegal music downloads are 'on the rise'

Around 7.7m people have illegally downloaded music this year, according to research commissioned by the British record industry's trade association.

Its latest report suggests more than 1.2bn tracks were pirated or shared, costing the industry £219m ($342m).

[via the BBC]

Ringtones had their day

Ringtones were super-hot in the middle of last decade, as everyone started to get cellphones, and have since fallen in popularity. Note the diminishing spikes around Christmas, which peaked in 2004.

Silicon Alley Insider Chart Of The Day via Business Insider.

Piracy Fight Shuts Down Music Blogs

Dozens of sites shut down and domain names have been seized by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accused of copyright infringement and selling counterfeit goods.

The seizure made without warning over Thanksgiving weekend of 82 sites involved a handful of music blog, sites selling knockoff handbags, sunglasses and other goods.

Read full article in The New York Times.

World Class DJs Interact with Fans

Flowd is a Helsinki-based mobile service that looks to connect popular music acts with their fanbase. Users can check news, look up tours, send messages, and even check-in via the iOS app. Armin van Buuren and Markus Shulz, two of the world's most influential DJs, are already touting the service.

[via Mobile Behavior]

Sky to close music download site

BSkyB has announced plans to close down its music download service, Sky Songs, due to a lack of demand from customers, reports the BBC.

The website allowed subscribers to stream music for a monthly fee (£4.99) and buy albums and singles to download, but in a statement, a Sky spokesman said the venture "wasn't working out".

Read full article.

Ringtones.com sold for $750k

Elliots Blog reports that the doman name ringtones.com has been sold for $750,000. Dave Evanson from Sedo was the domain broker for this transaction.

Slow down iPhone app

Slow Down.be from OVK on Vimeo.

Young people tend to drive fast when they listen to music, so the Belgian road safety organization Parents of Child Road Victims has created an iPhone application called Slow Down that plays music and adapts the pace the song to the driver's speed.

[via Adverblog. Posted on Textually Dec 1st]

Shazam Helps 100 Million Users Identify Tunes

Just six months after identifying its one billionth song, mobile music discovery service Shazam has reached another milestone: It now has 100 million users. Mashable reports.

Shazam’s user base has grown by 25 million in the last six months, thanks in part to its decision to expand from music identification into areas like television and advertising.

The service launched 10 years ago, but it really wasn’t until its iPhone app was released in 2008 that it really started to take off.

Read full article.

Lady Gaga songs 'stolen' off computer by German Hackers

Two people are being investigated by police in Germany after being accused of stealing songs from artists like Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and Ke$ha. The BBC reports.

Media reports in the country have named the pair as 18 year old student Deniz A, known as DJ Stolen, and Christian M, who is thought to be unemployed.

They are under investigation for using a trojan horse virus to hack into the artists' computers for about 12 months before being discovered according to German prosecutor Rolf Haferkamp.

Read full article.

New Michael Jackson Song debuts on Ping

Following the release of first single "Hold My Hand," a new song from the forthcoming Michael Jackson album "Michael" has debuted online.

The somber love ballad "Much Too Soon," which is the 10th and final track on the posthumous set, has premiered on iTunes' social networking service, Ping.

[via Reuters]