Now that the market is worth over UK£70 million (€105 million), KPMG are compiling a fortnightly chart listing the top 20 ringtones downloaded to the UK’s 45 million mobile phones. The chart will be officially recognised by the British Phonographic Industry and published in the trade news paper Music Week.
Even scarier, some sources report that ringtones now account for 10% of the global music market – or US$3,000,000,000 (€2.45 billion). There an interesting contradiction here. On the one hand, the music industry say that it’s customers are quite happy to pay for a ringtone sample from a single, yet on the other hand the same labels claim that the public won’t pay to download an actual music track, instead preferring to rob artists. Could this have been because of the easy availability of licensed ringtones to buy as opposed to a complete lack of legitimate music services in some markets, such as Europe?
Incidentally, it’s a race between Eamon’s “I Don’t Want You Back” and Britney Spear’s “Everytime” to be the top spot on the first chart. Contrast this to Al Martino’s “Here in My Heart” which topped the first singles chart in 1952.
Too bad panda-headed Digital Lifestyle’s favourites Super Smart don’t really have a look in.