Hit Music Ringtone Sales Slow

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2004/09/13/record_co_ringt.php' target='_blank'>http://www.mobiletracker.net/archives/2004/09/13/record_co_ringt.php</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The Wall Street Journal writes [Subscription only] in today’s issue that record companies are not seeing the profits once forecasted for ringtone sales. However, it may not be the business itself, but the legalities...the market for ringtones in the US is about $300 million according to the article. While that may seem large (and certainly can keep a few people employed), the market in Japan is $1 billion, despite the much smaller population of Japan."</i><br /><br />Figures. :roll: Record companies and technology don't seem to mix - they can't get anything right, even something as simple as a short audio clip. :?

[Kris Kumar]

I was really surprised to see a half page (newspaper page!) article devoted to ring tones, when I picked up the WSJ after I got home.

Personally I hate the musical/song based ring tones. But I know that there is a lot of money to be made by the carriers and the music industry.

I was amazed at the figures and think that the music industry is stupid. It is always crying about lack of CD sales and online piracy etc. But here they have an opportunity and they don't want to take it. 8O

Another interesting thing highlighted by the article is that, the most common reason for the industry not being able to sell a track to the ring tone makers/carriers is because they cannot get all the authors/stake-holders of the track to agree on the sale.

Anyway pretty soon the phones are going to get sophisticated. Smartphones already lets you put your own ring tone. It won't be long before other phones start offering the same feature. This means that by the time the music industry realizes the ring tone business, the market will no longer exist. :roll: