Wireless Federation

The ringtone market has been under pressure for some time, caused mainly by content providers’ greed, but also by the growing number of ways for users to make their own ringtones from digital music files. A Silicon Valley startup called Phonezoo is targeting this market in a somewhat interesting way: users can submit their own ringtones for others to download for free, but if the ringtone is of a copyrighted song, users must upload a digital version of the song to “prove” they own it. Once you do this, Phonezoo apparently takes that upload and extracts the relevant snippet, or lets users edit it before downloading. It’s a cool idea, and it’s great to see free ringtones — however it seems awfully unlikely that the recording industry will agree. Phonezoo’s model sounds pretty similar to that of MP3.com’s My.MP3.com service of several years ago, which gave users access to online copies of music once they’d inserted a copy of a CD in their computer to verify they actually owned it. The service, of course, got shut down by the record labels in 2000, and although many people thought MP3.com had plenty of grounds to appeal, the legal system made it essentially impossible for them to do so. Phonezoo’s raised money from a group of angel investors including well-known VC Tim Draper, and is now looking to raise a few million dollars more — but they’re probably going to need much more than that to battle the record labels. Despite the weakness of the MP3.com decision, it looks like Phonezoo is setting themselves up for an uphill battle, After all, it’s really difficult to see how uploading a ripped or downloaded version of a song actually proves a user legitimately bought it. Still, this doesn’t validate the recording industry’s approach to the ringtone market, which is based, essentially, on ripping people off and using lawsuits to protect the market. Call us crazy, but combining sales of recorded music with ringtones and other types of content so they offer consumers better value is just one idea they could use in an attempt to grow, rather than just try to maintain, their sales.

Phonezoo.com launches today, offering user generated content and a free service for personalized ringtones.

I saw a slideshow and a demo of how it works. It’s fabulous, anyone can open their own free account under “My Zoo” and save ringtones or music that they’ve uploaded from their hard disk - and share them with their cellmates, (family and friends). Friends can in turn upload their friends music to their own phone, they can even select which part of the song they want. And the Phonezoo community can rate and comment on the ringtones people have posted.

In their own words:

The company’s technology combines user-generated content and the collective intelligence of the Phonezoo community to deliver a ringtone service poised to disrupt a $600MM market in the U.S.

Phonezoo doesn’t charge for ringtones and you don’t need to buy any conversion software. With Phonezoo you are using the existing music and audio files in your own library, or files that are publicly available on the Internet, so there are no charges and no copyright issues.

Ringtones are fun and personalized. Phonezoo makes creating and sharing ringtones fun. Consumers can compose unique ringtones from any segment of any song or audio file they own; and they can create completely new and different ringtones from any sound source.

Phonezoo makes finding and sharing great ringtones a breeze. Phonezoo’s service gives users the ability to tap into the collective creative power of the Phonezoo community to find highly-rated, unique ringtones. Users can share their creations with friends, family and other Phonezoo community members.