Indie filmmakers can score Moby freebies online

Dance musician Moby has launched a Web site that gives his music away--to the right people, of course.

He is licensing his music for free via mobygratis.com to help out indie and student filmmakers.

"I was a philosophy major and I had a minor in film," he says. "Ever since then, I've had a lot of friends in the world of independent and nonprofit film production. Their recurring complaint is that it's really difficult to license music for movies that have no budgets, so I thought I would start this Web site which very simply provides free music to nonprofit indie films."

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Will iLike users like Thumbplay's ringtones too?

Thumbplay announced a deal it just wrapped up with iLike, a music recommendation service big on Facebook, to exclusively stock iLike's virtual shelves with ringtones.

Thumbplay's ringtones are disguised on iLike.com by the generic command to "get ringtones," and placed alongside iTunes links. They'll also be sprinkled throughout the iLike Challenge game on iLike's site and will be available for purchase through the iLike Facebook app.

This is a definite win for Thumbplay. The mobile content distributor's limp Facebook app, a Photo Portal that pushes pictures uploaded from a Thumbplay locker to a mobile phone, has so far only grossed 10 active daily users. By teaming up with iLike, Facebook's big cheese music discovery app, with nearly 600,000 active users, Thumbplay has jumped on a better angle for getting their products to Facebook users, and dropping coins in their pocket as well.

Beyond IPhone

The 2007 mobile music market could be summed up in one phrase: "It's the device, stupid."
And though no mobile music service or associated innovation gained even a fraction of the attention that Apple did by unveiling the iPhone, that story certainly helped shine a spotlight on other mobile music developments, if only by means of comparison. And believe it or not, there were other milestones in mobile music throughout the year.

AT&T finally joined competitors Sprint and Verizon Wireless by launching its own full-song music download services. Its strategy is one of partnership, tapping eMusic and Napster to create mobile versions of their digital music services so users can buy individual tracks or track bundles directly from their phones. The operator also became the exclusive U.S. provider of the iPhone, which sold more than 1 million units in less than three months.

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Verizon sells a "Don't tase me, bro" ringback tone

Verizon sells a "Don't tase me, bro" ringback tone

Top AT&T Ringtone For 2007

The top AT&T ringtones for 2007

1. "Party Like a Rockstar" by Shop Boyz
2. "This Is Why I'm Hot" by Mims
3. "Crank That" by Soulja Boy
4. "Rockstar" by Nickelback
5. "Don't Matter" by Akon6. "Buy You A Drank" by T-Pain
7. "A Bay Bay" by Hurricane Chris
8. "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston
9. "Pop, Lock & Drop It" by Huey
10. "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie