Madonna is Skype’s first featured artist

In a move to generate revenue beyond its free Internet telephone offering, Skype has struck a deal with Warner Music to sell ring tones and artist images on VOIP phones.

Under the deal announced Monday, Warner Music will supply songs for ring tones, or short song snippets of popular artists, and images of these people to more than 70 million Skype registered users under a revenue-sharing agreement, said Skype Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Saul Klein, in a telephone interview on Monday.

“This is an outgrowth of the program we launched last year for users to personalize their Skype service,” Klein said.

To kick start the new service, the VOIP company will promote Madonna in its “featured artist” section.

The cost per ring tone from an artist in the featured section will be US$1.50, he said. Pricing for the artists’ images was not immediately available.

From an article by pcworld.ca.