Jeff Pulver writes, For the longest time the only convergence between the Telecom industry and the Music industry was thought of as: Music On-Hold. Excerpts with edits and my comments added:
A strong illustration of their basic differences is seen in the way these two industries have handled disruption: Music has generally been quick to sue (and sue and sue), while Telecom has tended to turn towards regulatory relief. As it turns out, though, these seemingly divergent industries have found a way to make great music - and great telecom - together. who would have thought that ringtones would grow into over a (US$) 3 billion worldwide dollar business? And today the term "ringtone" yields over 61 million website hits on Google! Yes, Music has become the new content king for Telecom. One new twist on ringtones that is now being offered by service providers , quite interesting is custom ringback tones. With this new service you can specify the sound that a specific caller will hear when they call your phone. For instance, phone service can be configured so that each time a particular friend calls he is presented with a ringback tone of Elton John's "Daniel" (assuming ringtone is owned by the caller, of course) instead of the ubiquitous phone-ringing sound. Looking ahead, we shall seee an ever-increasing growing synergy between the Music industry and the Communications industry, and not just due to the continued evolution of ringtones technology. Many of today's cell phones and phone-service-enabled PDAs are coming equipped with much greater file storage capacity, memory and media-playing software, which is likely to result in a significant penetration into the on-demand portable music space by Telecom operators. The future is happening! Sometimes you just need to take a moment and listen. :-)
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