LiveWire to power Virgin Mobile USA’s ringback service

Virgin Mobile USA Inc. has tapped LiveWire Mobile to power a new ringback application that allows subscribers to choose pre-selected content channels rather than individual tracks.
Ringback Playlist, as the offering is marketed, offers 12 channels consisting of five ringback tones that are rotated every month. Subscribers can customize the offering based on the caller, time of day or day of week, and the application is available for $3.50 per month in addition to a $1.50 monthly ringback subscription fee.
Subscribers can choose from genres such as hip-hop, pop, television and movie themes, as well as a channel centered on this weekend’s Virgin Mobile Festival in Maryland. But the application could eventually feature ringback advertisements – an offering LiveWire is actively pursuing, and one that could be a good fit for the mobile virtual network operator in light of its success with the Sugar Mama program.
“From a music label’s perspective, we’re kind of making the move from a la cart content transactions to a monthly subscription,” said John Orlando, VP of marketing for the NMS Communications subsidiary LiveWire.