Timbaland and Verizon Wireless are preparing to embark on the next phase of mobile music: full length mobile albums.
As Verizon’s mobile producer in residence, Timbaland will produce one song per month throughout 2008. Each month, he will work with a different artist on a track while touring the country on the Verizon Mobile Recording Studio Bus, which will also capture making-of footage for V Cast subscribers on a dedicated Timbaland channel.
Each mobile Timbaland track will be released days after it is produced. Songs will be released as a full-length download, ringtone and ringback, and will be available only through V Cast and Verizon. At the end of the year, some sort of compilation “album” will be released exclusively through Verizon, according to Ruth. Whether the music is worked to radio during the exclusive period or made available via broader distribution afterward is up to Interscope.
Over the past few years, the music and mobile phone industries have cashed in tremendously on the growing popularity of mobile music–ringtones in particular. In 2007 alone, more than 220 million ringtones were sold, raking in a whopping $567 million in sales. Add to that the growing number of hip hop artists that are practically molding their careers around the creation ringtone-friendly music, and you can easily see why the mobile market has become a goldmine for the music and mobile phone industries.
Although the concept of a ‘mobile album’ sounds great, I can’t ignore the fact that if this Verizon-Timbaland model does catch on in the music industry, it has the potential of making today’s music (hip hop in particular) more disposable than what it already is. I’ll check back later to see how this all works out.