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Ethnic Mobile Media Leader Masttones.com Presents First-Ever South Asian American Mobile Music Trends
SAN DIEGO --(Business Wire)-- Feb. 8, 2006 -- Bhangra and Bollywood dominate South Asian American market, Similar to Hip-Hop and Hollywood on Global Charts; Masttones Increases Monthly Downloads 31% in 2005
Masttones.com, the first global channel of Indian mobile entertainment created by eMbience Inc., a leading developer and publisher of wireless software, presents the first-ever, South Asian American ringtone popularity trends.
As the global market grows, Indian-themed ringtones are becoming big business at portals like Masttones.com, which currently sells mobile media in the United States, the Middle East, India, Australia, Thailand, and Latin America. Masttones reports a more than 31 percent increase in ringtone sales from 2004 to 2005, due to greater distribution and consumer adoption of ethnic mobile media.
Surprisingly, four of the top five downloaded ringtones were from albums released by labels with no connection to Bollywood, and three of the top five were Punjabi Bhangra songs. Due to its popularity as dance or party music, Bhangra is often called the hip-hop of South Asia. So it's no surprise that these rhythm-based polyphonic and platinum ringtones sell globally just as well as hip-hop ringtones. Film-related songs also have become winning ringtones. -0- *T Top Selling U.S. Ringtones Song/Artist 1. 2 Dons and a B-tch / Sandeep Chowta 2. Dil Luteya / Jazzy B 3. Aim So High / Kami K. 4. Boom Shackalak / Apache Indian 5. 2K3 Nagina Remix / Labh Junjua ft. Metz and Trix 6. Aa Dil Kya Mehfil / Kishore Kumar 7. Aag Lag Jau / Sukshinder Shinda 8. Another One Bites The Dust / Queen 9. P.I.M.P. / 50 Cent 10. Hollaback Girl / Gwen Stefani 11. Ghostbusters / Ray Parker Jr. 12. Baby Baby / Sunidhi Chauhan 13. Belly Dancer / First Light 14. Thank You / Dido 15. Kal Ho Naa Ho / Sonu Nigam 16. Lose My Breath / Destiny's Child 17. Lose Yourself / Eminem 18. Feel Good Inc. / Gorillaz 19. Kaho na Kaho / Amir Jamal 20. Aaja Piya / Sunidhi Chauhan *T
Masttones also is developing a strong network of niche artists and distributors, and in January signed its 600th artist and 30th publisher. This is significant because much of the global South Asian music market is fragmented, with artists recording for independent labels and distributors located in the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Pakistan, Thailand, the U.S., Poland, Germany, Kenya, Jamaica, Trinidad, and the Middle East. For North American cell phone owners, the service is available on Verizon Wireless, Cingular, Cricket, U.S. Cellular, Alltel, Cellular South, and Metro PCS.
eMbience CEO Nimish Srivastava notes that, "Artists and publishers are finding new revenue and marketing opportunities through mobile content, which in turn is creating a new market for consumers, artists, carriers, and publishers alike."
For instructions on how to download the ringtones, visit masttones.com.
About eMbience
eMbience builds and publishes innovative location-based information and entertainment applications for mobile phones based on its proprietary LBS media platform, eMp(2). eMbience developers are experts at the newest wireless software technologies, including QUALCOMM's BREW, J2ME, Symbian and WAP. As an Elite BREW Developer(R), eMbience has key partnerships with companies such as Moderati and develops partner products, including AccuWeather and Rabble, and develops and publishes Callaway Golf Mobile Caddie and MapQuest Traffic. In addition, eMbience offers its own diverse portfolio of applications, including Masttones and Drinknation. Visit eMbience.com for more information.
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