Ringtones are a big business. Compare the revenue of 330 million dollars from the worldwide online music business with the 239.8 million dollars of the german ringtone market alone (source: NZZ*). Therefore these two news bites:

MEF Announces Launch of Official German Ringtone Chart

Following the overwhelming success of the first official ringtone chart (launched in the UK in June 2004), MEF is now planning to roll out the chart in Germany, with other European territories to follow. The first German ringtone chart, reflecting all ringtone formats, is expected to be published by Musikwoche, the German music industry's weekly trade magazine, in April 2005.

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Vodafone offers it's "mastertones" for € 1.99 in the AAC-Plus Format. Right now 3000 Songs are available, till summer 2005 Vodafone wants to offer 10'000 songs. An AAC-Plus encoded song is three times smaller than a comparable MP3 Song.


* Zauberwort «Superdistribution» von Nikola Wohllaib
NZZ, Medien und Informatik, 28.1.2004