theregoesdave

Myxer provides ringtones, wallpaper and videos that you can download on your cell phone for free. You’ll want to make sure you have a data plan, especially if you’re going to download a lot of videos or something, but that’s about it. They also allow you to create your own ringtones and share them online with friends.

You just go their site and find the free ringtone you want to use. Then you enter your phone number and they sens a text to your phone with a link to the file. You click on the link and save the ringtone to your phone. That’s it. I was kind of surprised that it was that easy, but it really is. So how do they make money? Well, there are definitely ads on the site and there’s another ad on the mobile web site when you go to download the file. They might also put small text ads into the sms message in order to help fund the site.

I spoke with Myxer CEO, Myk Willis while he was in town at the Digital Media Conference last week about their model. Myk works with a lot of traditional media people who are nervous about giving away their content for free. He says that often these companies have already tried to distribute their ringtones through traditional carrier channels and they’re seeing very little usage and low revenue. He says that once providers give away their ringtones for free, they see a spike in usage and the ad revenue outdoes their performance selling through carriers.

I decided to try out Myxer and was fairly impressed with the selection. It seems like a lot of popular music is on there, but it could be that people are making their own ringtones out of popular music and uploading them. That might mean a bit of trouble, but Youtube seems to do fine with taking things down while users are constantly uploading them again.

So here’s a little smattering for everybody… I napped the Free Lil Wayne Lollipop Remix and sent my roommate the free Katy Perry I Kissed a Girl madness. I also had to get the Quagmire Giggity for free while I was there.

• Digital Media Conference Discussion on Mobile Entertainment
• Attack of the Download Store: Apple, Google, Nokia, Sony…
• Will Video Be The Mobile Web Trend Of The Year?
• Nokia gets Touchy-Feely with XpressMusic ‘Tube’ and Free Downloads
• Comparison of Top US Mobile Web and Desktop Properties