With ring tunes, licensees also pay master recording royalties of 30 to 50percentt, industry executives said.
Because of the way the bells are hung in a church tower, we do not ring tunes on the bells.
These files, variously called ring tunes, music tones, song tunes, TruTones and master tones, are expected to spawn even greater demand.
For music labels, ring tunes may prove significantly more profitable than ring tones, which generally generate publishing royalties of roughly 15percentt.
To make ring tunes with other music, users would buy Xingtone's full software program, and Sugarcult would split the revenue.
On one hand, by making it easy to create one's own ring tunes, it could force cellphone companies and record labels to sell their own tunes at lower prices.
Mr. Zutaut pointed to the approach of Sugarcult, a pop band that will include a limited version of Xingtone's software on its new CD's, allowing users to make their own ring tunes.
But the hopes of record companies for extra riches from selling ring tones could be tempered by the emergence of other Web-based businesses like Xingtone, which has started selling a $15 software kit that allows consumers to turn digital music files, whether acquired legitimately or illegitimately, into better-sounding "ring tunes" -- cutting the labels and wireless carriers out of the deal.
These fields would stretch outward a few meters and would only affect the receiving--or companion device--which would be outfitted with a second copper ring tuned to a specific frequency.
Any Cougar Town fan will confess to having had Grayson's ditty "Confident in My Sexuality" stuck in his or her head at least once (hint: it rhymes "sexuality" with "Mariska Hargitay"), not to mention Ellie's "Look at My Rings" tune.
