Start Mobile, which sells wallpapers created by artists, has announced plans to move into the ringtone market by selling selling ringtones created especially as ringtones in a range of genres. “Then there was the realization that “not everyone wants [Gwen Stefani’s] Hollaback Girl or 50 Cent’s Candy Shop” as a ringtone, says Doffing: “Not every cellphone user is a 14-year-old boy who wants dirty hip-hop.” True, but they have driven the ringtone market so far… a chicken and an egg thing?
There are those who say that the whole point of a ringtone is to identify the user with a popular song or otherwise indicate their “individuality”…that’s true, but it’s true also that many people do seek something out of the ordinary. Underground is another way of putting it.
There is another interesting paragraph: “Ringtones continue to be big business in the U.S. At up to $3 for a 20-second song, they account for 10% of the music industry’s revenue, according to Roger Entner of Ovum, a consulting company with offices in Boston.”
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