Popular internet phone company Skype have signed a deal with some of the music industries biggest players which will allow them to sell ringtones to the millions of Skype users. A deal with EMI, Sony and Warner Music means songs are now available to download from the personalise Skype store.
Priced at €1 a ringtone, it competes with iTunes who offer music at a single cent cheaper. Ringtones will be $1.50 in the USA. Madonna is the current featured artist, but with the three big labels signed up to the deal there is no reason why Skype wont try to cater for the largest possible market offering music from rock, hip-hop and rnb artists.
The ringtone business is thriving around the world, just last year in the UK the unforgettably annoying Crazy Frog ringtone was downloaded 11million times, costing up to £3 ($5.40) a download. So eBay, owner of Skype will be looking to recoup some of the $2.6bn paid out last September.
View: Personalise Skype
