Well, they are big business as well. It is reported that Billboard will begin charting master ringtones on what is to (embarrasingly) be called the Hot Master Tones chart. The actual charting of the best selling ringtones will begin this summer. If you are lost, master ringtones play a clip of an actual sound recording, as opposed to polyphonic ringtones which are simply synthesized instrumental reproductions of popular songs.
And believe the hype. Those $1.99 ringtones add up. According to BMI (the people that protect songwriter's rights and license material to companies), ringtone sales generated $500 million in 2005 and they are expected to eclipse that amount this year. If you want to think globally, that number moves into the billions. Geoff Mayfield, Billboard's Director of Charts (what a great title) believes that Billboard is simply keeping up with technological and financial growths in the music industry
Just as polyphonic ringtones had come to represent revenue growth for the music industry at the time Billboard launched the Hot Ringtones chart in 2004, master ringtones have emerged as a major driver in the mobile music market, as well as a product that lines up additional music delivery channels.
I will be keeping a lookout for master ringtones box sets to begin appearing. Or, more likely, ringtone-ready edits of songs to actually start appearing on CDs.
B_Werner
Philadelphia, PA
February 2006
APR 05, 2006 09:18 AM