BMI Sues T-Mobile, Claims It Needs To Pay Up Over Ringback Tones
from the are-ringbacks-a-public-performance? dept
I'm still in the camp of folks who doesn't quite understand "ringback tones" -- the ugly stepchild of ringtones, where it's not what music your phone plays, but what music a caller hears when they call you and are waiting for you to pick up. While ringbacks have been a big deal in Asia, they're still a relatively small market in the US. But, that's not going to stop collections societies from demanding cash, of course. mike allen alerts us to the news that BMI has sued T-Mobile over its ringback tones. Of course, here's the thing: a court has already established that ringtones are not performances, so are ringback tones performances? Or, of course, T-Mobile could just ban the use of any BMI songs as ringbacks, and then see how those artists feel about how BMI is "protecting" their interests...![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Filed Under: performance, ringback tones, ringtones
Companies: bmi, t-mobile
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Not going to get me to waste money on something so frivolous, mind you.
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(that said, i barely even use our land line phone, let alone a cell... yay internet.)
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Although...I'd pay good money for a ringback that spouted out derogatory language about whomever is not answering their phone.
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By this "logic" when you've bought a CD you can't play it on your birthday party. Or wait, it gets even better:
>> ...since you're not performing the song in its entirety
So you will play only half of each song? And then watch together half of DVD you rented.
One word - idiot.
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"On Hold" Music
I've not experienced ringback tones before, and until reading this article I had never heard of them. But the idea seems like it has more in common with on-hold music that many companies play when they put you on hold or when you're in a call centre queue. The only difference seems to be that this music is playing to the caller while the phone is ringing, rather than after the call has been answered, and it's being played by the telco, rather than the callee.
I'm fairly sure the companies that do that have to licence the music for use on-hold, at least in Australia (I'm not sure about the US rules, but I'd assume they're similar). But assuming that in the US companies do have to licence it then, then surely those rules would apply to this too.
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If you ever call someone who uses a ringback, be sure to punch them in the face next time you see them.
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Nothing says "I love music" like making someone listen to your favorite song through a crappy cell phone earpiece.
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