After a year of doom and gloom in the music industry, as worldwide sales continued to slide and major record labels do battle with the internet (and real world) pirates, it seems the only real up story of 2002 might be the booming new revenue stream of mobile phone ringing tones. Recent research suggested consumers in Europe and Japan spent $1 billion on ring tones last year, with 80 million new ring tones ordered every month in Japan alone. And as the sector grows record labels are demanding a bigger slice of the pie, arguing the mobile industry benefits not only from the ringtone download fee, but also from increased sales in more sophisticated phones which the trend for catchy ringtones encourages. As the sector expands in the US expect the biggest earners in the music world in 2003 to be those who develop the nine note ring tone adaptations of our favourite pop songs.
Jan 2, 2003
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1 min read
Ringtones the money pot
Mobile ringtones are the music industry's growth area, with consumers reportedly spending $1 billion on them in Europe and Japan last year.