Ringtones

Mobile Ringtones Firm LiveWire Cutting 20 Jobs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 30, 2009 - 6:58am.
Littleton, Mass. - LiveWire Mobile (NASD: LVWR), a provider of ringtones, full track downloads and other mobile applications, announced that it is eliminating about 20 jobs as part of a plan to reduce expenses.

SendMe Mobile Inks Ringtone, Video Deal with Sony Music

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 26, 2009 - 12:14pm.
San Francisco - Mobile entertainment publisher SendMe Mobile said on Monday that it has signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment, to offer ringtones, videos and wallpaper images of Sony artists through SendMeMobile.com. The agreement gives San Francisco-based SendMe licensing deals with all four major record labels.

Court: Ringtones Not a 'Public Performance'; No Extra Royalty

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 15, 2009 - 10:28am.
San Francisco - A federal court has ruled that a cell phone ringtone sounded in public does not constitute a "public performance" under copyright law, and therefore performing rights organizations like ASCAP are not entitled to additional royalty payments from ringtones. "When a ringtone plays on a cellular telephone, even when that occurs in public, the user is exempt from copyright liability, and [the cellular carrier] is not liable either secondarily or directly," the court said in its ruling.

YouTube Selling Ringtones via Overlay Ads on Music Videos

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 23, 2009 - 12:50pm.
San Bruno, Calif. - Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube has begun selling ringtones, via affiliate links to iTunes and Amazon in overlay ads on music videos, NewTeeVee reports.

Report: Ringtone Industry in "Decline Stage of Short Life Cycle"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 21, 2009 - 12:30pm.
Los Angeles - The music ringtone industry is "within the decline stage of its short life cycle," and will see revenues fall 15% from a 2007 peak of $880 million, to $750 million in 2009, according to a reported from market research firm IBISWorld. Demand for digital albums and singles, as well as the maturing mobile market were cited as the main reasons for eroding ringtone revenues, which over-the-air used to cost consumers as much as $5 each.

Mobile Content Distributor Thumbplay Gets $2 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 19, 2009 - 7:19am.
New York - Mobile content distributor Thumbplay has added $2 million to a $6 million sixth round of venture capital financing it announced in March, PaidContent reported, citing an SEC filing.
tags: Deals | Mobile | VC | Music | Ringtones | Thumbplay |

Report: U.S. Ringtone Sales Fell 24% in 2008

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 6, 2009 - 9:38am.
Monterey, Calif. - U.S. mobile phone ringtone sales dropped 24% between 2007 and 2008, propelled downward by consumers who figured out how to create ringtones from their own music libraries, according to a report from market research firm SNL Kagan.

BMI: U.S. Ringback Tone Sales to Rise 15% This Year

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 31, 2009 - 11:57am.
New York - U.S. Ringback tone sales are projected to climb 15% this year, to $235 million, according to a projection from performing rights organization BMI, which represents songwriters and music publishers. BMI estimated that more than 10 million Americans currently subscribe to ringback tone services, which have an industry-wide average penetration rate of around 4%.

tags: Mobile | Music | Reports | Ringtones | BMI |

Universal Music Wins Royalty Dispute With Eminem Producers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 6, 2009 - 12:39pm.
Los Angeles - Universal Music Group has emerged the winner of a lawsuit brought by producers of hip-hop artist Eminem's early recordings, over the amount of royalties owed from sales of digital song downloads and ringtones, Bloomberg reported. The case hinged on whether digitally distributing a song should be considered a "license" of the music to a third party like the iTunes Store, or treated in the same way as CDs and other media -- as physically distributed product.

MSpot Debuts Custom Ringtone Creation Feature

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 2, 2009 - 1:59pm.
Palo Alto, Calif. - Mobile music firm mSpot on Monday debuted its first direct-to-consumer website, mSpot.com, which features a tool that lets users edit, purchase and download custom ringtones. Currently available to Sprint and AT&T customers, the $2.99 service counts an available library of over 400,000 songs from EMI, Universal, Warner, Sony, INgrooves and IRIS.

RIAA Appeals Parts of Copyright Royalty Board Terms

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 26, 2009 - 10:59am.
Washington - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed an appeal of the Copyright Royalty Board's final determination of mechanical royalties for digital music with the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, Billboard reports.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Music | Ringtones | RIAA | Copyright | NMPA | CRB |

Universal Music Taps ID Interactive for Custom Ringtone Creation

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 6, 2009 - 1:17pm.

New York - Universal Music Group announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with ID Interactive to offer a custom ringtone creation service for its family of labels. The UrTone player will allow consumers to select any part from any track from an artist, and customize a ringtone that is then delivered directly to their mobile phones.

Report: Overall U.S. Music Sales Up in '08; Albums Down 8.5%

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 5, 2009 - 9:47am.

White Plains, N.Y. - While overall U.S. music unit sales, which includes songs, albums, vinyl, music videos and ringtones, climbed 10.5% to 1.5 billion in 2008, total album sales -- including 10-song digital track groupings -- fell 8.5% to 428.4 million, according to a report from Nielsen SoundScan. Sales of physical albums like CDs fell 20%, to 362.6 million, and are off by 45% since 2000. Meanwhile, digital album sales were up 32% in 2008, to 65.8 million units, and digital track sales grew 27% to reach a record 1.07 billion.

Dada Taps Tailgate to Sell Songs, Ringtones via Banner Ads

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 17, 2008 - 1:04pm.

London - Dada Entertainment, a digital distributor of music and other content, has partnered with Tailgate Technologies, a provider of e-commerce technology that enables transactions directly within online banner advertisements, to sell songs and ringtones from banner ads served on MOG.com, ClickZ reported. Users click on the ads, enter their mobile phone number, and are sent a PIN which will unlock the download, with the charges applied to a user's mobile account.

Digital Entertainment Portal Dada Adds Universal Music Tracks

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 6, 2008 - 12:24pm.

New York - Major label Universal Music Group said on Monday that it has licensed catalog to Dada Entertainment, the operator of a digital and mobile entertainment distribution service. Under the terms, Dada.net will make UMG songs available for purchase and downloads as DRM-free full-track MP3s and ringtones from all major mobile carriers. The company -- a joint venture between Dada USA and major label Sony BMG -- also offers Sony BMG content, and said content from other major and indie labels is on the way.

Mobile Messenger to Offer EMI Ringtones

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 2, 2008 - 12:16pm.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Mobile Messenger, a provider of mobile content management and distribution technology, has announced a deal with major label EMI Music to offer the major label's catalog as ringtones through its service. The company currently operates in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand an South Africa.

Report: Nearly Half of U.S. 'Tweens' Own Cell Phones

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 11, 2008 - 9:29am.

San Francisco - Nearly half of U.S. "tweens" (ages 8-12), or about 20 million young consumers, are using cell phones, according to a report from Nielsen Mobile.

RealNetworks' Cutting Tune Offers Custom Ringtone Creation

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 10, 2008 - 12:16pm.

San Francisco - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) on Wednesday announced the release of Cutting Tune, a service that mobile network operators can use to allow subscriber to select any portion of songs made available from content partners as ringtones or ringback tones. Customers of RealNetworks' ringtone distribution services include SK Telecom and Verizon Wireless.

M-Qube Settles with Florida AG Over Mobile Ad Fraud

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 3, 2008 - 8:58am.
Tallahassee, Fla. - M-Qube, a unit of VeriSign (NASD: VRSN) that aggregates billing services for mobile content distribution, has reached a settlement agreement with Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, over unauthorized ringtone and other mobile content charges to customers' bills.

China Mobile Claims 80 Million Subs for Mobile Music Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 28, 2008 - 10:04am.

Los Angeles - China Mobile, which counts over 421 million subscribers in China, said that it has surpassed 80 million subscribers to its new M.Music Wireless Music Club, up from 48 million reported in September 2007, Digital Music News reported.