But it could, and should.
Ringtones, both polyphonic and master, have proven phenomenally successful for both the music and wireless industries. But ask representatives from either camp and they’ll tell you their new goal is to now expand that popularity beyond the hip-hop genre that dominates the format today. Addi-tionally, both hope to replicate the success of ringtones with their new full song download services.
To do both will require some changes to how content is offered on mobile devices so that they become a channel of discovery as well as promotion. It’s been said time and time again that the best mobile applications are the ones that best take advantage of mobility; however very few mobile music applications actually do so.
I can hold my mobile phone up to the car stereo to identify the song being played, but I can’t subsequently buy the full song or the ringtone in a single click. Why? I can send a friend a text message with the name of a new band I just heard, but I can’t include a link for him to sample the full song or the ring-tone. Why?
These are the kinds of features carri-ers need to implement in order to differentiate themselves from the music services available online today. They can’t compete on user interface or browsing, but they can compete on mobility, immediacy and community.
Record labels love the promotional opportunities given them via wireless. As hits become fewer and fewer, the ability to mine those that do occur via ringtones, ringback tones and so on, is helping the industry recoup its losses from declining CD sales. The combined sales of mobile products derived from a successful single in some cases exceeds that of the CD it’s meant to support.
But the music industry expects more than just a mobile merchandising play here. They want to sell songs, albums and even concert tickets via mobile phones. They want fans at concerts to use their mobile phones to vote on which song gets played during the encore, or use shortcodes to buy T-shirts instead of waiting in line, or send text messages and photos to the screen above the stage.
Leveraging the power of community will overcome the limitations of user interface, and the true promise of wireless music will be revealed.
Billboard is the world’s premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events and brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends. In 2004, it began publishing the first chart tracking bestselling ringtones. It also produces the Mobile Entertainment Content, Commerce & Applications (MECCA) conference as the official mobile entertainment partner of CTIA—The Wireless Association®.
