Coming Soon to a Cell Phone Near You

Security was tight around "Speed of Sound," the new single from Coldplay. It was set to debut on BBC Radio1 DJ Steve Lamacq's show and would be available to registered members of Coldplay's Website immediately afterward. Chris Martin was delivering it to Lamacq personally. Coldplay fans the world over sat on the edge of their seats to hear the latest offering from the band--unless they already had the song on their cellphone.

For about a week before "Speed of Sound" made its radio debut, 30 seconds of it was available for download as a Cingular ringtone. And we're not talking the cheesy monophonic (or even polyphonic) ringtones you usually hear. "Speed of Sound" was available in its full master recording, the same sound you'd hear on CD. (For their part, Coldplay pointed out on their Website that this was a promotion for a U.S. mobile phone company and the group themselves were not involved.)

Record companies are eyeing ringtones as a new revenue stream and also as a way to keep their product in front of the public. (Here's one place to read about it.) Radio hasn't been very welcoming to new music for years, and videos have long since gotten shoved to the margins of the schedules, so for the past few years we've been looking to commercials and TV or movie soundtracks to break new music and artists. Now, with ringtones, we have the chance to hear them all around us (depending on the taste of whoever's cellphone goes off). On the down side, we also have the chance to get sick of songs before they even reach their release date.