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Ringtone Industry Cashes In With The Teen Market
by Samuel Miton
http://www.feveringtones.com
The ringtone industry recently hit the jackpot after
striking a popular cord with teenage cell phone users. This
market likes the freedom to purchase their favorite tune or
sound without paying as much for a CD version. Mostly
comprised of 13 to 24-year-olds with discretionary income to
spend on monophonic or polyphonic sounds that makes their
cell phone sound match their personality, this group isn't
afraid to drop serious dough on a frequent basis.
Teens don't want to limit themselves to the ringtones that
come with their phone and they'll pay to continually add to
their collection, according to RealityTVWorld.com. This
group is the ringtone industry's largest market with over
40% of the ringtone market falling into this category. This
market is so huge, according to Wireless World Forum, that
they spend eight times more on mobile phones than on music.
In the U.K., trends show that ringtones make up 10% of the
total music market. This trend is also seen in the US
market where this buying power is affecting CD sales. Also,
US teenagers now spend more on ringtones than on text
messaging. In a report by IT Facts (www.itfacts.biz),
ringtone sales worldwide are estimated at about $3.5
billion.
Naturally, the music industry isn't highly thrilled about
this shift in sales from the more expensive CD to much less
expensive ringtones - even though the publisher or
songwriter of the music or tone is entitles to royalties.
Still, a ringtone royalty isn't quite as high of a
percentage as a CD royalty. Some future analysts of this
market are predicting that the mobile phone and ringtone
industry are going to dip even farther into the music
industry by giving mobile phones technology similar to
iPods; whereby, the cell phone user can download much longer
versions of ringtones with the high quality of a DVD or CD
and store this music for a long period of time on their cell
phone.
Many teenage cell phone users download their favorite songs
from online or through alert messages on their mobile phone.
While many ringtone updates are offered as freebees from
their service, most teenagers don't mind exchanging minutes
or paying out of their pocket for a sound that they can
identify with. Most ringtone songs are either the full
version of a song with lyrics, purely acoustic versions or
synthesized versions of the tune. Since technology is the
name of the game for this market segment, only the most
up-to-date cell phones or those purchased within the last
year to year and a half can download the best versions. If
you ask an American teen what are the most popular
ringtones, you will probably get the response "What's the
latest top hit in music?" While original sound tunes and
remixes are starting to hit the market, most teens just want
to hear a version of their favorite song as a ringtone.
This age group will probably dominate the ringtone industry
for some time to come. However, a new market of untapped
but upcoming whiz kids (age 7 to 12) is anticipated to be
targeted by some ringtone and cell phone suppliers. You can
download some of the top ringtones at places like your phone
service provider like Verizon Ringtones
(http://www.3gUpload.com), Xingtone
(http://www.xingtone.com), or Jamster
(http://www.jamster.co.uk).
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