During a year in which Nielsen Soundscan reports that overall album sales are down 15.1% from last year’s figures, Universal Music Group is making some non-music related business moves that could still have a lasting impact on hip-hop and the overall music industry. The latest move is a venture between UMG and Israeli-based video ringtone developer Vringo, which will bring music videos from some of the industry’s best-selling artists directly to your cell phone.
The new service, which UMG and Vringo are calling “Vringos,” allow users to assign 2-to-10 second video clips to a personalized buddy list of outgoing callers. UMG has already started formatting its most popular music videos to meet the handset requirements of various carriers. So far the licensed videos include Snoop Dogg’s“Drop It Like It’s Hot” and 50 Cent’s“Outta Control,” but many others are likely to come as Universal is the parent company to Interscope, Island Def Jam and A&M records, among others. Performing rights organization BMI forecast the musical ringtone market at $550 million for the fiscal year of 2007, and with Universal serving as the parent company to such top-selling acts such as 50 Cent, Jay-Z and Akon, the video ringtone market could generate similar sales figures for an already slumping industry.
The Vringo partnership comes in the wake of the UMG owned labels Interscope, Geffen and A&M announcing a similar partnership with Drinks Americas to market various alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in collaboration with some of the label’s marquee acts. UMG has also recently notified Apple that it will not renew its annual contract to sell music through iTunes.
