3 says “more than 30 million full version music clips have been downloaded or streamed over their global networks to date since music services were launched in its nine markets.” Of course, by “full-version” music clips, they mean not just full-length audio, but also music videos, truetones and ringback tones.
That’s lumping in apples and oranges and calling them all pears. Ringtones and ringback tones are more about personalization than entertainment, and throwing ringtone sales into the figures calls into question just how well music downloads and videos are really doing for the operator. MocoNews comes to a similar conclusion, adding that the thin selection of content doesn’t help either.