Sing for your supper, and someone else's feast

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 24 August 2006 10:30

Your IT - Home IT

The ways people think of to make money out of premium rate phone services never ceases to amaze: a singing contest is the latest gimmick.
Privately held Australian company RingSingThing Pty Ltd has launched a singing contest in which contests call a 1900 number (charged at 55 cents per call) and sing a song (in one of several categories).

All recorded songs are then available for public listening via the company's web site www.ringsingthing.com.au. Listeners then vote by texting the song's ID to the txt number on the website. Winners each month enter a final contest at year end to win an overseas trip for two.

RingSingThing director Steven Thomas claimed "this is the first of its kind in that it's live and you don't even need to upload your clip from a computer. This is simple enough for everyone to have a go at not just the tech savvy, if you can dial a number you can participate."

iTWire called Thomas to enquire about how he had resolved the issued of public performance of copyright music and lyrics. Thomas said that RingSingThing was licenced by APRA and AMCOSS, which covered it for any copyright music or lyrics performed by participants. He added that a substantial portion of participants performed their own material.