Cingular today announced plans to sell ringtones from bands that put their music on MySpace.com, hoping to boost revenue, customer loyalty, and help its image among young people.
Cingular's Mobile Music Studio will offer unsigned artists and bands on MySpace the tools needed to turn their self-produced music into ringtones, helping artists generate exposure and excitement for their music.
Currently, the Mobile Music Studio is being trialed by 75 unsigned MySpace bands and artists. Through Cingular's Mobile Music Studio, located on a dedicated page on MySpace, artists are guided through the licensing and production process.
Once licensing is completed, artists will then be able to upload a short track of their original song, via an audio file, at which time the music content is screened to ensure content is indeed original and appropriate. Upon successful review, the audio file is converted into a 30-second ringtone.
Artists will then be provided a link so their tones can be posted for audio preview and sold on their existing MySpace profile pages. Additionally, Cingular will give these unsigned artists the opportunity to market their ringtone on MySpace. These exclusive ringtones will only be available for download by Cingular customers on Cingular phones.
Cingular and MySpace expect to roll out the Mobile Music Studio nationally later this spring. For more information, visit http://www.myspace.com/cingularstudio .
MySpace is becoming the dominant player in wireless. First the Helio deal with the MySpace phones and now this!
2. Posted by Basevinyl
Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:18 pm
Probably a good move but strategically these big wireless companies are grasping at straws. They remind me of a rave I was at where they had turned off the water taps in the lavatories and were selling bottles water for 3.50 per bottle.
Everyone I know who has a cellphone is pimping them out for free by themselves. It seems the big wireless companies are trying to find a way to sell outdated product with an outdated business model. I don't know anyone who has a ringtone that is a song from Shifter, but I know lots of people who have some crazy nuts homemade ringtones.
The companies will try and infiltrate any gathering of popular culture especially if there are young people like at MySpace but from what we've seen in the last few years there are less and less people buying little 30 second ringtones and just making their own. Technology and wireless products and digital toys are making us all masters of our own creation and distribution. I say why buy when you can try! I'm not part of any big company and I make free ringtones for fun not for profit...and I encourage my friends to do the same...not clips of pop music but strange and wonderful creations...give it away...the world is different and pretty soon it won't matter how much money you have but how many friends you have.
Cheers Kids
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