Sep 5 2007
ZOMG The Itunes Makes Ringtones We Are All Dead
By Jeremy Schoemaker
50 comments 
I been busy sorry slow posting…. but been getting so many emails about the new announcement that the iphone now makes ringtones and how screwed is the ringtone market for affiliates now.
Ok chill your dill cause:
1) This ONLY works for the iphone. Most iphone users are pretty savvy do you really think they are the users your targeting for ringtone ads in the first place?
2) Ringtones have been steadily declining for like 3 years. Not that this has anything to do with itunes but its still a reason 1 has nothing to do with the other.
3) There is already 3 million ringtone editors out there for free.
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While it is big news for the iphone users… I mean Duh it should have came that way… Heck my Cingular 8525 lets me assign any mp3 i got on my cell as a ringtone so my thoughts are more of it should have released this way. And as far as ringtone signups, the iphone isn’t going to effect that… just the trend of people realizing ringtones aren’t really free is the main effect.
It only works on the iphone for now. In time, there will be a much cheaper iPhone and it’ll have a bigger market share. At the same time, yes, the market has been and will continue to decline.
Short term, I don’t think this will have an effect, but in the long run, I agree with you. It will hurt those ringtone affiliates. Apple is going to tap into all the revenue streams they can drain from before a big competitor like google hits the streets.
Hey Shoe,
Even though the market is on the decline, I’m always impressed by how many people still convert.
Flycell is on fire via glispa BTW
Newbies will always outrank new adopters.
I wish all phones could use any mp3 as a ringtone, but then the companies are afraid of losing their monopoly and forcing people to pay $1-4 for ringtones.
On my phone you can’t even preview the ringtones they expect you to buy. I am forced to either pay $4 for a tone, or to use standard. I will stick with standard until I buy my google or iphone.
Oh, and they make you pay another $.99 to turn songs you already paid $.99 for into ringtones. What incredible value.
with cingular you have to even pay to browse the ringtones they are selling, wtf?
relative to the $2.49 you have to pay for a piece of that song without an iphone, also Im pretty sure theres a hack so you dont have to pay to make a ringtone.
Shoe, I think you’re right on the money
I don’t see the big accouncement, phones have been able to assign ringtones as songs for year. The editor is a nice bonus, but everyone should have seen this coming.
So what? That is a good thing for everybody since their product are so popular.
I’ve never understood why so many people pay for ringtones. This market just baffles me. For example, take the RAZR — one of the best selling cell phones which can play an Mp3 as a ringtone. Just download any clip of your favorite song, transfer it via bluetooth (no cable or software even needed) to your phone and you can now save it as your ringtone.
The iTunes ring-tones are pretty cool but your right Shoe, this isn’t gonna hurt any Ring-tone gurus out there.
I have never, ever, not once in all the years I have owned a cell phone ever downloaded a ringtone… I’m amazed it is a multi billion dollar industry… or was?
I don’t think itunes are big enough to kill off other players in empire of the ringtone market. I think overtime it will dominate but not kill the market. Just like Youtube has damage TV but it will never beat out big networks and music downloads are slowly killing the music industry but people will always buy music when it’s good enough.
1. “Chill your Dill” has got to be one of the funniest all time sayings.
2. What does ZOMG mean?
3. My Ericson let’s you assign any MP3 as a ringtone as well so I never buy them anyway.
best posttitle ever!
they even published a new itunes software version to download so you can edit the ringtones lol
already 3 million free ringtone editors i never new that … and still you make million out of paid one wow it means how much money there in the industry.
I have many ring tone editors but I never use it.
Sort of off-topic but what do you think of the price cut on the i-phone?
I think Apple should reward all the people who bought it the first couple months with like a $100 gift certificate, or a free Nano, even if the iphone buyer had a Nano they could then give it to their friends to help spread the Apple love,(hint hint) what are your thoughts?
I’m surprised that the ringtone industry is as large as it is. In general, however, I agree that the popularity in purchasing ringtones is on a steady decline anyway. Although the fact that the iphone will now be able to make ringtones will hurt affiliates, I don’t expect to see much growth in this industry in the future anyway so it may be a good time to seek out other niches.
This brings your point in a previous post that the smart online entrepreneurs are the ones that diversify and are always thinking ahead. You can’t just sit and watch your one project lose money because of evolution and not adapt with new ideas. If you hit it big with one thing you have to still be thinking of the next thing.
Ok. Sure this may have a small damper on the industry but let’s be honest. The ringtones industry is over a $5 billion dollar a year industry. That’s quite a large pie.
I dont think this will have a dramatic effect just like shoemoney posted.
The ringtone industry reached it’s peak a few years ago. Like anything it will decline. Ringtone affiliates should thank cellphone makers for NOT allowing music to act as a ringtone. Once people can make their downloaded music a ringtone then people should begin to worry.
Have you seen the new nano? It plays video… i’m stoked on this new feature. It may be time to finally buy one and stop listening to my ericson as an mp3.
No doubt diversification is the key. I was late to get on this ringtone train but it’s interesting to watch from the sidelines.
3.360 million to be precise.
The thing that really interests me with the ringtones market is that with a simple google hack you can find TONS of ringtones from open directories. I’m going to look up the query I use to find ringtones and post it. It may get filtered out but in that case I don’t want to get you in trouble jeremy either.
Ok, try this query in google…. ?intitle:index.of? ringtone
In the ringtones directory is over 240 ringtones (estimate). Not only that but it’s fun to move up one level and see what other goodies are out there to download.
Lol.. did you even read the article or just the title..?
Funny thing, this last week was seriously the first time I could not find an item I wanted to download. I ended up having to pay for it
LoL
I rarely pay for ringtones. Its too easy to make them or get them for free.
Have you tried this query? It works with ebooks too. Truly amazing what you can find doing generic queries for .pdf .xls .xlsx .mdb… don’t forget out friend .doc too.
On the other hand, have you ever run a ringtone campaign?
I make my own ringtones so this doesn’t really matter
isn’t there some nextpimp site that does a great job with ringtones?
I’m surprised my relatively new Palm Treo 700 doesn’t allow MP3’s as ringtones, even though it will play MP3’s and event assign them to alarms and other events.
I’m with you eTown. I never could pay the big price for iPods before, but at this price I’m finally considering it. I’ve convinced my wife by telling her how I could store videos of our baby on my new nano. That and porn too I guess…
Haha, i had no idea what the Z in ZOMG meant until I looked it up… hahaha apparently acronyms can be sarcastic now.
Ya used to have ringtones affiliate banners on my site and they used to work well before , this days i hardly get clicks.I have already removed ringtone ads on 1 or 2 sites.
I am not using ringtones at all… just have default, that is why I am wondering how many people buy them and how many affiliates make money of it.
That is pretty lame that it blocks you from doing that.
This may affect a small part of the ringtone biz, but I think most folks are going to continue to buy them..
I dont think it is going to effect the ringtone affiliate market anyways.
You gotta love how they deliberately cut their potential market into a fraction
but they also get to focus their marketing, and many apple users have a love for things dedicated to apple products
That will just avoid ringstone’s companies to compete with the iphone.
I think itunes cashed enough of money already, have you ever heard of cyworld.com i think they are selling illegal songs on their large network.
i actually dont know why people are willing to purchase ringtone with so many editors out there. then i went around checking with my relatives and friends and ask them about ringtone stuff. 50% will really pay for it… and they are not very IT savvy even though some of them are highly educated….
I used to buy ringtones but now I can make my own ringtones.