Ringtones as an Income Stream
Austin Convention Center, Thursday, March 17
The real question here is what’s next. For the past 22 years, the music industry has relied on that familiar little silver disc. No technology lasts that long, but the progression from album to cassette to CD is followed by a question mark. With ever-popular Internet pirating falling in line right behind venues such as Apple’s iTunes Music Store, maybe the physical progression ends here. With cell phones quickly outnumbering television sets, that handset will soon be your record store, CD player, and radio. This future is right around the corner, and there’s big money in it. BMI’s Scott Andrews, along with Luis Samra of Wireless Latin Entertainment, Bruce Ellis of Cellus USA Inc., Rick Hennessey of Dwango Wireless, entertainment lawyer Donald Passman, and Mark Frieser of market research firm Consect, dove headfirst into this emerging media. “Think of ringtones as a piece of clothing,” Frieser suggested. “At the end of the day, you want to upgrade to something that makes you look better.” With master tones (reproductions of the artist’s original song) taking the place of polyphonic tones (a sort of midi version of that same song), the technology is there to replace your iPod with your Nokia. The only problem lies in licensing. Presently, artists are being driven out of the equation by greedy record labels and wireless carriers. As the ecosystem quickly changes and indie labels make it easier for aggregators to create ringtones, this new technology has the ability to change the entire face of the music industry. Ringtones are just the beginning.
This article appears in March 18 • 2005.