That’s the message of this article in The Times (of South Africa). It compares the market and methods to the “Wild West.” While the article fails to answer all the “why” questions I have, it does point out that the root of the problem is the lack of a Nielsen RingScan systems to track ringtone sales and provide a regular update on downloads.
The good news is ringtones are increasingly popular and sales in South Africa are buoyant, with the SA Recording Rights Association pegging overall revenues at between R5 million ($705,000) and R40 ($5.6) million a month. But the bad news is a lack of regulation in the royalty payments distributed among composers and artists. Currently, a ringtone costs between R1 ($0.14) and R25 ($3.50). As Graeme Gilfillin, the association
Comments have been disabled for this post