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Ring-Tone Barons? Japanese Record Companies Raided

Posted by timothy on from the economy-based-on-pokeman dept.

PuceBaboon writes " The Asahi Shimbun is reporting that officers from the Fair Trade Commission raided several major record companies in Japan, including Sony Music Entertainment, Toshiba EMI and Avex, on suspicion of creating a monopoly for the purpose of maintaining artificially high prices on... telephone ring-tone tunes."

3 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Good by Lord+Kano · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'd like to see this happen in the US. I'd also like to see pressure put on Cell phone makers to open up the system for user created tones.

    Or why not just let a phone play a 10 second or so clip of an MP3? The decoder chips are cheap enough now.

    I won't use the word conspiracy, but there is collusion between service providers and phone manufacturers to keep the price of ring tones so fucking high.

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  2. Download for free by CaptainZapp · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Applicable for Nokia phones, but may apply for other brands too.

    You can always save the $, Euro, YEN for ringtones by finding a free midi site (annoying banners warning) and convert them yourself with the included Nokia software (sorry, Windoze only).

    In addition I get the bonus of not knowing anybody else to have Led Zeppelins "Kashmir" as a ringtone.

    Works for me and makes me laugh every time when I see those fantastic 4EUR99 offers...

    --
    ich bin der musikant

    mit taschenrechner in der hand

    kraftwerk

  3. Ringtones will go the way of the hip-pack by michaelmalak · · Score: 4, Interesting
    One of my side hobbies is making people feel old by reminding them of past events that seemed like yesterday. I remember in 1995 saying to someone, "remember the early 90's with hip-packs? We're in the mid-nineties now."

    I think I'll be saying the same thing about ringtones in 2006. At the office, it used to be a game to show off ringtones in a meeting -- all phones were left on. But that's gotten old, and so now they're all on vibrate. Of course the rules are looser in social situations, but I think it'll get old there too -- think restaurants, movies, even at-home DVD movies.

    Besides staleness, I believe ringtones are an anachronism because:

    1. The concept of a telephone ringing is from the 20th century where one had to run to the phone, rather than the phone being a personal borg-like appliance.
    2. Cell phones are getting smaller all the time, so it's not as likely for one to, for example, leave it at the office desk and walk around the office.
    What I see more likely is the cell phone replacing the iPod, but of course it's going to take some innovative hardware manufacturer to push this; the music industry is too laggard and reticent.