Free ringtone for sprint cellular phone

Phone tunes are a ringing sensation

Knight Ridder News Service

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

New software that lets anyone create unique mobile phone rings for free has some record labels worried it will kill the cash cow that is the ring tone.

The software, called Xingtone, evokes the same "oh wow, oh no" reaction from the labels that greeted the original Napster. The fear is that people will make ring tones out of pirated songs, thus compounding the file-sharing problem while robbing the music industry of a new source of revenue.

The quest for a distinctive cell phone ring has created a $3 billion global market for everything from computer-generated renditions of such classics as The Temptations "Just My Imagination," to near-CD-quality snippets of popular songs like OutKast's "Hey Ya!"

Ring tones are catching on fast in the United States, where sales are expected to reach $140 million by year's end, according to market research firm Yankee Group.

But just as the record labels have begun hailing ring tones as a welcome windfall to help offset free-falling CD sales, along comes Xingtone. The Los Angeles company's $15 software, sold online, allows anyone with average computer skills to take an MP3 file or favorite CD track, trim it to create a 30-second ring tone and send it to the phone with the press of a button -- just like a text message.

Kathy Schader, a 29-year-old who lives in West Hollywood, describes it as a tool to express her individuality and varied musical tastes, which spans Bob Marley's reggae to the alternative rock of The Sundays. Schader said she enjoys creating a sensation when her phone rings, while she's performing such mundane tasks as waiting in the supermarket checkout line.

Reaction from the music industry is mixed.

Artemis Records started distributing a free copy of Xingtone's software with every copy of Sugarcult's new album, "Palm Trees and Power Lines" to make it easier for fans to convert favorite songs to ring tones.

"The benefits of this technology are obvious," said Artemis chief executive Danny Goldberg. "Every Sugarcult fan's phone will be like a mini-radio station, introducing passers-by to the new album."

Other industry executives are less convinced of the promotional benefits -- especially when ring tone sales are starting to pay dividends. The ring tone market is poised to explode with a new generation of mobile phones capable of playing actual recordings.

Larry Kenswil, president of eLabs, Universal Music's new media and technologies division, predicts the global market for these real- sounding ringtone songs will be "massive."

Kenswil said Xingtone could undermine that emerging market.

"Any time you give people the opportunity to get something for free that they'd otherwise pay for, they have a temptation to do that," he said.

Some cellular phone networks, such as Verizon Wireless, have taken steps to block songs they don't sell. Sprint PCS has opted not to.

Copyright 2004 Journal Sentinel Inc. Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.