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Cellular phone ring tones
turn hit music

HONOLULU radio station Star 101.9, KUCD-FM, is tapping into an exploding trend -- online ring tone downloads by cellular phone users. Program Director Jamie Hyatt and night jock Yung Jon Que this week launched a top-five ring tone download countdown to reflect the phenomenon, fueled mostly by youthful users. The countdown will air each weeknight at 9.

How big is this?

New York Daily News reported earlier this month that a ring tone version of the song "My Boo" by Usher and Alicia Keys was purchased 97,000 times during the last week of October. That compares with 25,000 legal downloads of the song "Vertigo" by U2.

Billboard magazine launched a top ring tone chart for its print edition earlier this month after getting hip to the new revenue stream for the recording industry currently measured at $300 million in the United States.

Most song downloads for digital music players are $1.

Cellular providers offer ring tones for prices ranging from 99 cents to $2.50.

Leah Bernstein, president of Hawaii's Mountain Apple Co., is all over it.

She has delved into researching the possibilities of getting songs from the Mountain Apple catalog into cell phones around the world. She also has a 16-year-old niece who is a regular cell phone ring tone downloader.

"Obviously with the popularity of Israel (Kamakawiwoole) around the world and also because so many people visit Hawaii, then go home and take with them our music and melodies, so I'm thinking that the ring tone thing is going to be quite a boon," she said.

Her chief concern is that musicians, artists, songwriters and publishers "get compensated fairly when things are sold. That's our job as a record company."

"We are definitely going to play ball when we figure it out," she said.

Everybody's doing it

The cachet of remodeling is not limited to home and office these days.

Kauai-based Tsunami Marketing is rebuilding the Web site for the Kauai Visitors Bureau.

Unlike traditional remodeling, there's no sawdust or fragmented drywall for current users of www.kauaidiscovery.com while the work is underway.

"Given the trend towards online vacation planning, we thought it was critical to build a site that delivers great information in a friendly, easy-to-use format that would allow potential users to make informed decisions," said Sue Kanoho, the bureau's executive director.

Tsunami is scheduled to unveil the new Web site on Christmas Eve.

Freedom to be fit

Liberty Fitness, a national chain of women's fitness centers, has arrived at 21 Oneawa St. in Kailua on Oahu. In addition to having circuit training on adjustable workout equipment, the 1,765-square-foot center also includes nutrition and health education as part of the regimen. It is operated by husband-and-wife owners Paul Vander Werf and Cheryl Ann Loo.

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