MUMBAI: Muzicall, Europe's leading provider of ringback tone (RBT) services, has signed a pan-European deal with Warner Music Group to make the record company's catalogue of music available as ringback tones to millions of mobile phone users. Ringback tones enable mobile phone users to replace the �ring ring' their callers hear with another sound, typically a piece of music. Muzicall's deal with Warner Music Group will allow ringback tone customers to play music from Warner Music Group's impressive roster of global superstars and up and coming talent.

Ringback tones are a great illustration of how technology can combine promotion and commerce in one service. In Asia particularly we've already seen how powerful they can be in driving discovery of new music and monetising the mobile space. We are delighted to be forging this partnership with Muzicall, as they have the expertise, infrastructure and ambition to help us grow European fans' appetite for this type of personalisation product.... said Leanne Sharman, Vice President, Commercial Development, Warner Music Europe.

Muzicall's deal with Warner Music Group comes as ringback tones become increasingly popular in Europe with Muzicall having grown the customer numbers across its managed services by over 300 per cent in the last 12 months. Muzicall anticipates that the expanded choice of music available to play as ringback tones will help increase customers still further, towards the levels of popularity seen elsewhere in the world. For example in some parts of Asia, 50 per cent of people have ringback tones on their mobile phones.

There has been a surge in interest in Europe for ringback tones and we hope that the addition of Warner Music Group's substantial and prestigious catalogue of artists will help boost that popularity still further,... said Pacome Lesage, VP Product and Business Management of Muzicall. Ringback tones enable customers to personalise their phone calls in a unique way so that they select a range of artists to play to different callers. This ability to tailor the experience to each caller means that ringback tones will appeal to a wide audience of very passionate people....

Unlike ringtones, ringback tones are not downloaded by the consumer to their handset. Instead, a customer's ringback tones reside on the server of his or her mobile phone operator. This ensures that ringback tones cannot be pirated, which makes it an ideal channel for the music industry. Ringback tones typically consist of music, however, the customer can also choose from movie clips, TV show theme tunes, sound effects and numerous other sounds. Customers can have an unlimited amount of tunes in their collection with the ability to assign a tune to different callers, creating a rich and personalised experience.