New software that lets anyone create unique cellular phone rings for free has some record labels worried it will kill the cash cow that is the ringtone. 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 ringtones 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!.” Ringtones are brisk business in Europe and Japan. They’re 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 ringtones 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 ringtone and send it to the phone with the press of a button — just like a text message. “It’s problematic, because it has the potential to eviscerate the business model early in its development,” said Ted Cohen, EMI Music’s senior vice president of digital development and distribution.
Xingtone fans, like Kathy Schader, a 29-year-old who lives in West Hollywood, see things differently. She 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. “I had a few ringtones on my phone, but they were all sort of the beep bop boop: the Atari version of ringtones,” Schader said of the songs she purchased from her phone company.
Now, Schader enjoys creating a sensation when her phone rings, while she’s performing such mundane tasks as waiting in the supermarket checkout line. “People stare. They wonder where the sound is coming from,” said Schader. “Then they have a reaction like, `Oh that’s really cool.’ “
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