Grammy Award Winners Expected to be Heard on Cell Phones Soon


Trends in music come and go, but the crown jewel of musical accomplishment has been a mainstay since its creation. The Grammy Awards are the music industry's biggest night. Winning a grammy carries the same weight for musicians as the Oscars do for actors - there is no greater achievement.

Over the past decade, the Grammy's have become a greater reflection of music that is not only critically acclaimed, but popular as well. According to AllMusic.com, seven of the previous 10 winners of the grammy for Album of the Year have reached number one on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. 2003's Album of the Year winner, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by Outkast, has sold over 10 million copies since its release in September of that year. Norah Jones' 2002 Grammy winner, Come Away with Me, has sold over 18 million copies worldwide, also according to AllMusic.com.

One of the best ways to gauge what music is popular today is what music listeners are downloading. The internet has become a virtual candy land for music lovers, and the acronym "MP3" can be heard as often in conversations about music as "CD."

MP3's themselves have become more mobile as technology advances, and are now making their way from the desktop to the cell phone. MP3 ringtones are the latest advancement in the ringtone industry. One of the fastest growing industries worldwide, ringtones are worth about $3.5 billion dollars, according to Deloitte Accountancy.

"Record labels and artists really rely on the revenue ringtones can generate," said Bob Bentz, Sales and Marketing Director for MonsterTones (http://www.monstertones.com). "It's a new found source of income for them in an era of overall declines."

Ringtones have become such a strong gauge of song popularity that Billboard gave its first Ringtone of the Year Award in 2003. The inaugural winner of the award was 50 Cent for his single, "In Da Club." 50 received five grammy nominations in 2003. Although he didn't win any, three of those were for "In Da Club."

Can ringtone popularity predict Grammy victory? Or is the crossover popularity that a hit ringtone signifies a death wish on Grammy night?

Kanye West has been described over the past year as "cocky." He believes he is the best. His Grammy nominations prove him right. West leads the field with ten noms for songs from his debut album, The College Dropout, and his work as a producer for artists like Alicia Keys. Kanye is nominated for Song of the Year and Best New Artist, and The College Dropout is nominated for Album of the Year thanks to hit singles and ringtones like "All Falls Down."

Usher earned eight nominations, and will look to continue his award season success in some of the biggest categories on Grammy night. He is nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and his seven times platinum album, Confessions, is nominated for Album of the Year. According to a source to the Times UK, Usher's single "Burn" (nominated for Best Male R&B Performance) was one of the top ten ringtones of 2004.

Alicia Keys avoided the sophomore slump with The Diary of Alicia Keys, and also garnered eight grammy nominations. In 2002, Keys won five grammys for her debut album, Songs In A Minor, and should have mantle space cleared for more grammophones this year. She is nominated for Album of the Year, and Song of the Year for her single "If I Ain't Got You."

Green Day re-introduced themselves to fans in 2004 with the release of their seventh album, American Idiot. They will try to win their first grammy since 1994 with six nominations, including Record of the Year for their politically-themed single "American Idiot." American Idiot is also nominated for Album of the Year and features the hit single "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," which is currently the seventh top selling ringtone on MonsterTones.

The Grammy Awards are becoming a more accurate reflection of music that is both popular and creative each year. As the awards show makes that shift, the popularity of ringtones could begin to play a role in which artists and songs receive nominations. There could even be a possible grammy created for Ringtone of the Year.

"Rap music is the best music since the '60s, and the Grammy's took a few years to recognize it as a musical category," said Bentz. "If ringtones continue to help shape what music becomes popular, who knows what could happen?"

The 47th Annual Grammy Awards are on Sunday, February 13. All the songs mentioned above, plus ringtones from other nominated artists like Hoobastank, NERD, and the Killers are currently available at MonsterTones for 47% off. For more information on MP3 and cell phone ringtones, please go to http://www.MonsterTones.com.

Jonathan is a starving, struggling writer who aspires to work in public relations when he graduates from West Virginia University. He is a marketing intern with Advanced Internet and a stringer for the Associated Press.







Related News



Mobile Security Expert: Your Camera Phone Got Hacked - ZDNet UK

Mobile Security Expert: Your Camera Phone Got Hacked
ZDNet UK, UK -33 minutes ago
As the quality of mobile phone cameras continues to advance, that is exactly why mobile hackers are targeting camera phones. Celebrities are becoming hot ...

MasterCard to Enable P-to-P Mobile Payments by Cell Phone - Banktech

MasterCard to Enable P-to-P Mobile Payments by Cell Phone
Banktech -22 hours ago
The interest is there to bring mobile payment capability to the market." Pugh emphasizes the convenience of p-to-p payments via cell phone. ...

Review: iPhone 3G (Génial!) - Wi-Fi Planet

BusinessWeek

Review: iPhone 3G (Génial!)
Wi-Fi Planet, CT -Jul 24, 2008
"Any cell phone will do that," she said. Of course. But for me, talking to people who are far away is the least interesting thing about any cell phone, ...
Review: New iPhone lives up to the hypeVancouver Sun
From the Los Angeles TimesNewsday
Lab test: Apple gets iPhone 3G right for businessTMCnet
Business Edge - Wall Street Journal Blogs
all 82 news articles

Babble Rouser - Forbes

Babble Rouser
Forbes, NY -19 hours ago
He dipped into the cell phone business in 1995 when he won a license in Ireland to set up a mobile phone network, Esat Telecom. ...

Stephen King’s “N.” short story becomes cell phone serial - Slippery Brick

Wall Street Journal

Stephen King’s “N.” short story becomes cell phone serial
Slippery Brick, OR -1 hour ago
The story is called “N.” and will be offered to viewers on mobile phones and via the Internet. Bringing “N.” to the small screen required a partnership ...
Stephen King Enlists Marvel in Video PlotWall Street Journal
all 14 news articles

Doom'ing The iPhone - Forbes

Doom'ing The iPhone
Forbes, NY -7 hours ago
By contrast, the sweet spot for traditional cellphone games was around 300 kilobytes. Carmack wiggled around those rules of thumb and has produced a 2.5 MB ...
Doom creator speaks on iPhone developmentMacNN
all 4 news articles

New player joins NYC cell phone competition - Crian's New York Business

New player joins NYC cell phone competition
Crian's New York Business, NY -41 minutes ago
And options for cheap, pre-paid cell phone plans already exist from Virgin Mobile, TracFone and Sprint’s Boost Mobile. “MetroPCS will have to demonstrate ...
Pay By The DayNorth American Press Syndicate
all 3 news articles

Cancer doctor cites 'early' data on cell phone danger - Register

ABC News

Cancer doctor cites 'early' data on cell phone danger
Register, UK -19 hours ago
In a memo sent by University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute director Dr. Ronald Herbman yesterday, he cautions mobile phone users should not to let a lack ...
Institute head’s mobile phone scareNature.com (subscription)
Prominent Cancer Researcher Warns about Cell Phone Cancer RiskeFluxMedia
Scientist tells Israelis: Hang up your cell phones alreadyHa'aretz
InformationWeek - Slashdot
all 857 news articles

A Bad Mix - Cell Phones and Children? - GNIF Brain Blogger

GNIF Brain Blogger

A Bad Mix - Cell Phones and Children?
GNIF Brain Blogger, CA -2 hours ago
I think it’s important to note though that the study could not make any safety statements regarding children and cell phone usage. Therefore, since there is ...


OKI Safety Mobile Phone Helps Prevent Vehicular Accidents - Gearlog

OKI Safety Mobile Phone Helps Prevent Vehicular Accidents
Gearlog, NY -8 hours ago
Oki presented the prototype of a cell phone equipped with a DSRC-based automotive communication device (DSRC is a standard for inter-vehicle communications) ...