Article: Ringbacks ringing up bucks; Ringtones still king, but little brother ringback tones gaining ground.(News)

Byline: COLIN GIBBS

It seems ringback tones may be quietly closing ground on ringtones.

RCA Music Group this week announced that Alicia Keys' single "No One'' has topped the half-million mark for ringback sales in the United States, making it the first-ever ringback to go gold. And that's good news for an industry that's increasingly looking to mobile to offset plummeting CD sales - and, perhaps, declining ringtone revenues.

"We feel that we've hit a new sales level with one of the emerging formats for mobile music,'' said Sean Rosenberg, director of mobile marketing for RCA Music Group. "Ringbacks are definitely one of the formats that have doubled in growth over ...

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