Rock bands have long prospered by living -- and selling -- images of hard living and brash poses. But sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll are no longer enough. The definition of cool for some acts now includes mobile-phone ringtones.
Ringtones, the synthesized melodies that are programmed to play when a cell phone rings, have proved to be such a lucrative side business for cellular phone companies that record labels in the US have decided they want a piece of that revenue.
Warner Brothers Records in the past few days began showing commercials on MTV and MTV2 for a set of voice-greeting ringtones recorded by members of the punk band Green Day, in what music and cellular industry executives said is the first time a record label has paid to run its own ads for the digital snippets in the US market.
The commercials, which are part of a broader advertising campaign to promote the Sept. 21 release of American Idiot, the band's first album in four years, are a milestone for an industry where many are looking to products other than compact discs to steady the shaky revenues of the music market.
To some artists and music executives, the marketing of ringtones suggests the subversion of music to marketing ploys.
"There is a sense among some that it bastardizes the music, takes away the sincerity and the original intent of the artist," said the artist manager Tony Dimitriades, who represents acts like Tom Petty. "With where we are today, there seems to be a notion that anything goes and who cares?"
But Tom Whalley, the chairman of the Warner Bros label, part of the Warner Music Group, said that advertising the phone tones is just one part of his label's shift from mere disc factory to marketer of artists' lifestyle products.
"We're in the culture with each and every one of our artists," Whalley said.
"The ringtone can help connect that fan to the artist. If it's done with taste, I don't think it crosses that line where its commerce over art," he said.
Taste is not the first notion that springs to mind when sampling the Green Day ringtones, which cost up to US$2.49 apiece. They include the band members belching and cursing, as well as offering witty ripostes. "Pick up the phone!" demands Mike Dirnt, the band's bassist, in one. "It's your mother. I know. She's with me."
But the ringtones are in keeping with the sneering image of the punk outfit, best known for songs like Basket Case and Brain Stew, both of which are also being sold as ringtones.
There is also no question that, even if ringtones do not represent pure artistic ambition, they are resonating with the public. Last year, cellular phone users worldwide spent US$3.1 billion on ringtones, according to Consect, a mobile market research and consulting firm, with popular choices including Beyonce's Crazy in Love. (The global music business is more than 10 times as large.)
The US market, which lags behind Europe's and Asia's, rose to about US$150 million in retail sales, up from US$45 million the year before. Analysts expect the market to expand even faster now that handset manufacturers are cranking out more sophisticated phones that can play multi-channel audio files with pieces of an actual recording, with sound quality far superior to the tinny synthesized versions of songs known as monophonic or polyphonic tones. Phones usually have a screen that can display a list of hundreds of titles, which sell for US$1.50 to US$2.50 and usually contain a 30-second clip of the song.
Record executives say the market appeared to hold only limited benefits for them until recently. To produce monophonic or polyphonic tones, mobile companies did not need to license the actual recording of a song. Instead, they licensed the composition from a music publisher, paying a 15 percent royalty on average. (A song's writer or copyright holder and the artist who records it are not always the same person.) But when the real recording is used, as with so-called master tones, record labels typically receive a 50 percent cut.
Complaints about the encroachment of commercial interests into the music world are nothing new, of course. Outrage over the licensing of music for advertisements, like Nike's use of the Beatles' Revolution to peddle sneakers in the 1980s, has faded, so much so that few eyebrows are raised when Jaguar uses the Clash's London Calling to sell cars or Wrangler Jeans borrows Creedence Clearwater Revival's anti-establishment Fortunate Son for a feel-good campaign to sell pants.
The new trend is taking the record companies afield from their main business too. Two years after Universal Music Group created an in-house ringtone division, Universal Music Mobile, one-third of its sales come from non-music tones, including sound effects and jokes from impersonators, like the one who imitates George W. Bush (in Chinese, for the local market).
Cedric Ponsot, the chief executive of Universal Music Mobile, said he occasionally had trouble persuading artists, including the rock band U2, to approve selling their music in ringtone form, especially before improvements in sound quality. He said he tells artists, "If your fans are willing to pay two to three euros for a ringtone, you should respect that."
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu said the strengthening of military facilities would help to maintain security in the Taiwan Strait Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi, visiting a military base close to Taiwan, said plans to deploy missiles to the post would move forward as tensions smolder between Tokyo and Beijing. “The deployment can help lower the chance of an armed attack on our country,” Koizumi told reporters on Sunday as he wrapped up his first trip to the base on the southern Japanese island of Yonaguni. “The view that it will heighten regional tensions is not accurate.” Former Japanese minister of defense Gen Nakatani in January said that Tokyo wanted to base Type 03 Chu-SAM missiles on Yonaguni, but little progress
NO CHANGES: A Japanese spokesperson said that Tokyo remains consistent and open for dialogue, while Beijing has canceled diplomatic engagements A Japanese official blasted China’s claims that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has altered Japan’s position on a Taiwan crisis as “entirely baseless,” calling for more dialogue to stop ties between Asia’s top economies from spiraling. China vowed to take resolute self-defense against Japan if it “dared to intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait” in a letter delivered Friday to the UN. “I’m aware of this letter,” said Maki Kobayashi, a senior Japanese government spokeswoman. “The claim our country has altered its position is entirely baseless,” she said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg on Saturday. The Chinese Ministry
RSS