Ringtone.net was started in 1998 by Andy Clarke
whilst working for Orange PCS Ltd in the UK. Andy has worked in the Telecoms
industry for 25 years. Working for BT from 1982 to 1993 as an engineer, then
starting AK Mobile Communications in Gloucester which he sold in 1997. Finally
he joined Orange in 1997 and progressed to Test Manager for WAP and Multimedia
Services where he tested the very first Orange WAP call. He left Orange in June
2001 to concentrate on ringtone.net.
In October 1998 Andy appeared in
the Daily Star and on numerous TV programmes. He was advised by Orange and also
Planet 24 (Big Breakfast) to contact the MCPS regarding copyright issues.
He contacted the MCPS and enquired about setting up a ringtone scheme however
was told that clearance for each ringtone would be required thus
making the scheme unmanageable. He persevered and supplied technical information
to both Chris Yeadon and Rob Hanley of the MCPS and also a list of 10
ringtones that he thought would be popular.
The scheme was launched later in 1999 and has proved to be a huge success.
Andy's ringtones quickly became famous and his first
creations, Mission Impossible and The Simpson's gained much interest and have
been copied the world over. The domain ringtone.net was registered in March 1999 and
was the first UK ringtone delivery site and the second ringtone related domain
name to be registered in the world. The first ringtone domain only showed a
holding page in March 1999 so really ringtone.net was the worlds first ringtone
delivery site. Click
here to see the ringtone.net archives and
here
for
"pre"
ringtone.net days.
In July 2004 we made the difficult decision to shutdown the site due to increased number of publishers who were not allowing their works to be used as ringtones.
Due to massive public demand we opened the site again in December 2004 our new mobile multimedia services.
All of our services are now powered by JAMSTER with even which means we have no involvement with the MCPS or PRS as the ringtones are now sent from outside the UK by a third party who manage all of the royalties for us. It's good to be back!! With much more content and supported handsets!
Hindsight is a great thing and if I had realised this mobile crze would
be so big I would have never put all of my content on the web for free.
Most of the Worldwide cellular operators were selling my rendition of
the Simpsons and Mission Impossible. If there are any clever copyright
lawyers out there...give me a call...... :o)
Andy
To contact us or arrange an interview please click here. Please note ALL customer content delivery enquiries must go to Jamster using the Help / FAQ link at the top of each page.
 Click the graphics below to view or listen. To view the videos you will need Windows Media Player TM available free from here
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Clare English's BBC Radio Scotland interview with Andy Clarke on Radio Cafe 29th March 2006 © BBC 2006 All rights reserved. |
The Citizen Article 16th July 2004. © 2004, Gloucestershire Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Canada's CBC Radio 1 interview with Andy Clarke and CBC's Alan Neal. 29th May 2002 © CBC 2002 All rights reserved. |
The Citizen Article 20th December 2002. © 2002, Gloucestershire Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved. |
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The Citizen Article 22nd April 2002. © 2002, Gloucestershire Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved. |
 Mobile News 27th May 2002 Reproduced by kind permission of Ian White, CWP Ltd All rights reserved. |
 BBC Online NEWS Article. |
 Daily Star Article 25th March 2002. © 2002, Express Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved. |
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BBC West Interview Video 26th October 1998 Video © 1998, BBC TV. All rights reserved. |
 Big Breakfast Video 29th October 1998 © 1998, Planet 24. All rights reserved. |
Gail Porter was so impressed with our ringtones she recorded Andy Clarke's voicemail for him. |
 Central News Interview Video 26th October 1998. © 1998, CARLTON. All rights reserved. |
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The Citizen Articles 1998. © 1998, Gloucestershire Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved. |
 Daily Star Article 27th October 1998. © 1998, Express Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved. |
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 Western Daily Press Article 26th October 1998.© 1998, Western Daily Press Ltd. All rights reserved. |
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 What's The Story 23rd Feb 1999.© 1999, Channel 5 Ltd. All rights reserved. |
 John Rockley's Morning Show. January 2008 © 2008, BBC
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