More Top Picks Best Streaming Devices
player ready...Coldplay’s new album isn’t due out until June, but the band’s new single “Speed of Sound” can be heard right now — on a cellular telephone.
No need to scan radio stations to hear a new single. Record labels and wireless companies are partnering to release clips of singles as ringtones. But the difference between Coldplay’s new ringtone and those sing-songy tunes usually heard on a cell phone is that companies such as Cingular Wireless are tapping into master recordings.
That means the song consumers play on a cell phone has the same sound listeners will hear on the radio. And because they are master recordings (not polyphonic or monophonic renditions), everyone responsible for the creation of the song, including the artist, will get paid when someone downloads the tune.
“This is a mutually beneficial program to all partners involved,” said Art Navarro, a spokesman for Cingular Sounds.
There is a lot more money to go around when the average ringtone costs anywhere from $1.50 to $3 and a digital song retails for 99 cents. Industry analysts estimate that Americans will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on ringtones in the next several years.
. Nielsen Mobile is poised to introduce a master recording ringtone chart this summer.
Whether the release of singles as master tones will threaten the release of singles on the radio is up for debate. Don Barrett, Los Angeles radio historian, said instead of a ringtone threatening terrestrial radio, cell phones may simply strip satellite radio of its potential influence. “The cell phone has become what the transistor radio was for me when I was growing up.”
Capitol Records views singles and ringtones as completely different revenue streams. Ringtones are more of a public experience, “a representation of your personality,” said Ted Mico, vice president of new media at Capitol. “And if you buy a Coldplay single, you may also download the ringtone.”
Even so, ringtones are a clever method for record labels to keep young music listeners interested in buying music. “And who wouldn’t want to have the cool new Coldplay song on their phone?” said Don Gorder, chair of the music business and management department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.