Sony BMG Music Entertainment will begin selling CD Ringles at retail later this year for around $6 to $7 in hopes of boosting the retail singles business. The Ringle will bundle a hit single, two remix or b-side tracks and a ringtone and is slated for distribution with Wal Mart, Best Buy and Target. Reuter’s reports that the name “ringle” and an industry-wide logo have been approved by the RIAA and the labels are on the hunt for ringtone distribution partners. The ringtone market is estimated to reach $550 million for 2007, according to BMI.
In a separate, but related story, the Verizon, Real Network’s Rhapsody and MTV Urge partnership officially launched September 9 during MTV’s VMA Awards telecast. The user friendly Rhapsody music subscription service will merge with the Urge application and begin to appear on Verizon music-centric phones.
We’re hopeful these new developments are the first of many positive steps towards better linking music distribution to mobile devices and bringing us one step closer to what Real Network’s Rob Glaser envisions as the “Jukebox in the Sky”.
