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ringtones

Skypenomics: Why ringtones are important to Skype, not just an extra buck or two

Phil Wolff on January 31, 2006 03:12 PM

Skype will help its users sell and buy information and services. They are starting small with ringtones. And that's fine. This sets up the business relationships with music labels, shopping services on Skype and partner sites, accounting and billing, reporting and feedback systems. It's a chance to learn and experiment on the cheap, to become wise in the ways of helping Skypers play and shop.

Later comes selling entire songs for downloading, like Apple's iTunes. And podcasts, vlogs, videos, games.

And after that: helping Skypers trade or sell their bits to each other. My old Madonna ringtone for $.10, including the licence key and registered DRM transfer; Skype getting a penny. My mashup of samples of rat pack era songs and Italian specialty numbers to tailor your Skype client for the last season of the Sopranos.

Skype is attractive for more than its millions of active users. It's an economic magnet because users organize themselves along social networks, propagate ideas, and share information through those networks. It's one thing for people to cluster around a "place" like an Elvis memorabilia forum on eBay. It's another for you to have them on speed dial, to see their presence and moods, and to otherwise be more immediately engaged in their lives, and they in yours. I am more likely to learn of the eBay Madonna fan boards on eBay from someone I know than serendipitious discovery.

Today's Skype "ringtones" are overpriced because this is still the PC market, not the mobile market. iTunes sets the bar at $0.99 for a whole song from a nearly infinite playlist. The Warner Music deal says $1.50 for ring tones, but competitive pressure will drive those rates down. Since PCs offer many more touchpoints and contexts to sonify user experience, Skype users may see offerings for entire sound "themes" licensed directly or remixed.

The Skypenomics takeaway:

Ringtones teach Skype and Skypers about buying and selling, building trust.
Next step: buy Coldplay tracks and download them through the secure Skype file transfer, Skype getting a royalty.
Step after: sell my Coldplay track to my friends, Skype getting a cut.

Expressive Content Overturned.

Stuart Henshall on September 15, 2005 03:51 PM

"Expressive content" is Skype's words for their latest experiment in personalizing your Skype with ringtones and pictures. I'd not blogged it earlier simply because it held little interest to me in the format launched. It's currently available as part of Skype beta 1.4 for Windows.

I'd heard from focus group reports that Skype was looking at adding ringtones. However, I think they missed the real opportunity. By modelling their solution off the mobile phone they made two key assumptions. First that the mobile model applies and second the rate is appropriate. They apparently missed the most basic questions. Why have mobile ring tones been so successful? And why are they so viral?

Ringtones are a very vocal method of pimping out your mobile phone. They provide personality, add visibility and ring in public places. By contrast Skype ringtones are often taken in an office, or simply heard behind a headset. While it may be nice to change your ring tone at home or in the office, you are unlikely to get the attention the same money secures for your mobile. In the current mode it appears too expensive to be interesting.

Here's another solution and all IM systems better listen up. For now you are all competing for content distribution. The eBay deal makes what I am about to write even more clear. For Skype or any IM client to be successful you must reverse the role of expressive content. You are buying an opportunity to indeed express yourself with others.

Thus I should be able to buy a ringtone for a dollar say and then point to 10 people who will get that ring the next time they call me. There are plenty of goodring tones in the Skype system. However I'd much rather push a moscito ring to someone else than listen to it myself. The latter could be fun even a bit mean. It works as long as the other person can get their own back.

buy ring tone

push to buddies (10)

buddies hear ring next time they call and until changed.

each buddy can either - pass the ring on (ie infect another - limited duration) or return the favor (now i hear it too)

So in this simple example, ring tones become viral, they spread. Now the real content opportunity is created. What we want is a user driven content system that bubbles up the best concepts, so popularity is truly viral. A new artist creates a track gives it to their buddies and urges them to share it. Thus we have:

user creates own ringtone or joke or song etc.

push to buddies as many as you want

buddies each get license to forward it to 10 people

each ringtone is tagged and tracked by skype.

when ring tone reaches 1000 users it goes on popularity board

these ringtones are now sold

creator gets say 80% of the action.

There are a few problems here. In Skype's case they have a mechanism for distributing ringtones. It works just like voice mail. When you go to share your ringtones they are simply uploaded so the next time that person calls they will get the new ringtone. No need for a central server. Keeping track of how many are using a certain ringtone would be a more difficult exercise although this could be part of the log on experience. For the ring tags must tie back to the contacts server. Only then will the ring tones follow you everywhere, which is important if a paid viral market is desired.

Other product angles are also available. For example right now I can't download a ringtone for a one time use. A onetime use would enable me to give a "buddy" an experience. If you get positive feedback you could buy it for them etc. Thus even enabling one time uses and forwards for different ring tones means you infect others. Which leads one to thinking rather than buying one ring tone you may be better off buying 10 different ones for a dollar and only being able to share with one person per ring.

Now I can hear some objections. This makes it more complicated. Users will be confused by the ring tone they get when dialing etc. I doubt it. More importantly I think kids would get it and start creating their own content. That is consistent with eBay's desire to sell this content too.

So while it is easy to ignore Skype's first foray into content distribution, the opportunities could become many times more interesting.

Skype for Windows 1.4 Beta release.

Stuart Henshall on August 31, 2005 11:52 AM

1.4 Windows Beta released.

Bunch of cool new features including:

Free Call Forwarding
Expressive content
Improved Search
Application to Application Messaging
New API improvements
- Application to Application Messaging
- Skype Window Control
Skype URI links (skype://) for email and web pages

Get it on the Skype for Windows download page.

Cautions: We've had some difficulty with promptness of presence. What do you think about the new features? The look and feel changes?

Change notes...

31.08.2005 version 1.4.0.45

Feature: 21 new emoticons

Feature: My Pictures: possibility to choose pictures from Expressive Content

Feature: RingToneManager for Expressive Content of audio files

Feature: API notifications for contactlist selection and focus

Feature: Call forwarding

Feature: Contextual tool tips

Feature: Multilingual EULA

Feature: Possibility to disable file transfer

Change: Improved Search and AddFriend functions

Change: Getting Started Wizard: new layout

Change: Profile: month names are translatable

Change: Import Contacts: new layout and process improvements

Change: Improved Emoticons

Change: API: Allow sending voicemail to myself

Change: Skype client can now be maximized

Change: New Korean translation

Bugfix: Some optimizations during call initialization, should be a little more responsive now

Bugfix: Import Contacts: mass authorization is back

Bugfix: Skype does not start for some users

Bugfix: API: support expressive content files SET RINGTONE and AVATAR

Bugfix: API: enchance GET RINGTONE to report status

Bugfix: Prepopulate Skype Test Call Service on new user's Contact List

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Skypenomics: Why ringtones are important to Skype, not just an extra buck or two

Expressive Content Overturned.

Skype for Windows 1.4 Beta release.