On December 19, 2009 performance rights group Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against T-Mobile’s US operation. The lawsuit was filed with the US Federal Court in Los Angeles, CA last month.

BMI claimed it had licensed ringback tones to the major wireless carriers, but that T-Mobile had not agreed to the deal. The performance rights group said the suit related to over 50 titles from its repertoire but didn’t confirm which publishers, songwriters or other individuals the suit represented.

This follows a move last year by the American Society of Composer, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) - which files a similar lawsuit against AT&T. In it, ASCAP claimed that ringtones fell under the public performance Copyright Act. The claim was rebuffed by the court.

Yes, Apple has realized that:

1. There is still plenty of life left in the ringtone category.

2. The old Apple model (buy it twice) wasn’t working.

3. Services like Sharetones are a much better deal for anyone wanting iPhone ringtones.

Information at djnitrogen.com/sharetones-android.html

San Francisco, CA – DJ Nitrogen, creator of the Sharetones ringtone sharing platform, announces the new Sharetones App for Android. Sharetones lets users to turn songs on their Android phones into ringtones, alarms and notifications. Sharetones is the only Android app that lets users get virtually unlimited ringtones direct from their handsets without needing to edit their own waveforms or pay the high prices from carriers or third party sites.

Sharetones matches the music on an Android phone with user-generated “ringtone recipes” stored in the Sharetones cloud - giving the Android user instant access to a huge and growing selection of ringtones. Sharetones handles the matching in the background, so all the user does is preview and select. During the introductory period, Sharetones gives Android users unlimited ringtones for free.

“We are really excited to be launching Sharetones for the Android platform,” says Chris Sindoni, DJ Nitrogen CEO. “So far the feedback has been great. It’s a simple concept really - Sharetones are ringtones you share. We match your music with someone else’s recipe to give you a ringtone, instantly.”

Sharetones for Android is built on the DJ Nitrogen content collaboration platform that lets users legally share their mash-ups and remixes with others who own the same source content. The ringtone “recipes” are created and shared by users of DJ Nitrogen’s Sharetones desktop applications or the new Sharetones add-on for the Songbird Media Player. Each of these applications features full audio editing capabilities, resulting in a huge database of custom ringtones. “Sharetones for Android helps complete the ecosystem loop” says Boris Ratchev, Product VP and leader of the Sharetones for Android development team. “It gives casual music fans access to over 65,000 recipes created by our desktop app users.” Serious DJs can still use the Sharetones Windows or Songbird app to send custom ringtone edits to their Android phones.

About DJ Nitrogen:

San Francisco based DJ Nitrogen is changing the way consumers and media providers engage with digital media by empowering an ecosystem that unleashes user creativity,  protects copyright holders and delivers incremental revenue to media companies. The company has several patents (issued and pending) for the technology that powers its platform, including the “recipe sharing” technology that lets users legally share remixes and mash-ups of copyrighted content. CEO Sindoni and the development team are veterans of numerous large consumer Internet brands and start-ups. Visit www.djnitrogen.com for more information and to download a free Sharetones product.

Contact:

Bill Hensley
VP Marketing
DJ Nitrogen
bill.hensley@djnitrogen.com
San Francisco, CA
415.869.8859 x716

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Now, Songbird users can make and share unlimited ringtones with Sharetones by DJ Nitrogen. Sharetones matches the music in a user’s Songbird music library with “ringtone recipes” made by other users of DJ Nitrogen products giving instant access to a vast and growing database of ringtones. Just a couple clicks sends the ringtone to a user’s mobile phone via sms.

If we don’t already have the ringtone you want, right click on any song in your music library to create your own with our audio editor. Once you create a ringtone its recipe is shared with all Songbird users so anyone with the same song can also enjoy your ringtone.

FREE during beta to all Songbird users. Enjoy!

The iPhone was the top selling handset in the third quarter, followed by the Motorola Razr and Blackberry Curve.

The Razr held the top spot for the previous 12 quarters.

Of course, all are compatible with DJ Nitrogen’s Ringtone Lab.

AT&T posted their 3Q earnings earlier today. Not surprisingly, they reported strong gains from their wireless devision this quarter. AT&T saw 2.4 million iPhone 3G activations this quarter, with 40% of which were new to AT&T. As you can imagine, the company greatly values smartphone subscribers like iPhone owners due to the expensive data plans that have “significantly higher [average revenue per user] and lower churn than postpaid subscriber average.”

Rest of story is at iPhoneAlley.com

“Oh No You Didn’t” from the Mercenaries 2: World In Flames game/commercial was the top ringtone among users of the DJ Nitrogen Ringtone Lab last week. Here’s the link to the track from the Pandemic Studios site: http://www.pandemicstudios.com/mercenaries/downloads.php.

With the DJ Nitrogen Ringtone Lab, you can listen to all the “Oh No You Didn’t” ringtones made by Ringtone Lab users, or you can make your own.

Of course we know Metallica is too loud and “Death Magnetic” the dynamic range of a jackhammer, but it’s not just Metallica. Lot’s of music tries to be louder now and the result is less dynamic range. While dynamic range might not be particularly important for your ringtone, it does make a difference in the musical experience.

(Great article from the Wall street Journal, complete with interactive graphics.)