Last year he topped the charts. Now the Crazy Frog's days look numbered. Sales of mobile phone ringtones are in terminal decline, says research out today.
The rogue practices of some companies as well as the increasing availability of tracks and videos on mobile phones signal the death knell for tinny jingles. It will come as a huge relief to those fed up with the incessant, poor quality reproductions of chart hits and TV theme tunes - not to mention the Frog's teethgrindingly omnipresent squawl.
And doubtless Coldplay will welcome the news. The band was kept off the top of the charts last year by Crazy Frog's Axel F tune. Figures from music consultancy MusicAlly show ringtone sales grew from £34.8 million in 2000 to £177.3 million in 2005. But they are expected to fall this year to £143.5 million and £78.8 million by 2011.Rob Wells, director of the new media division at Universal Music UK, said: "The ringtone business in the UK is now in decline. You can put it down to price, piracy and the Crazy Frog effect."
It is also partly down to the way some ringtone firms tricked customers into thinking they were buying a single ringtone when they had signed up to costly subscription plans.
Meanwhile, software is now available on the Internet allowing full MP3 tracks to be turned into ringtones.
Source: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk
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