LiveWire Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA have launched Ringback Playlist, letting the mobile virtual network operator's subscribers access pre-selected content channels of music.

Ringback Playlist lets Virgin Mobile USA customers personalize their mobile phones by choosing their favorite music genre and setting their ringback tones to a collection of songs in that category. Each time a call comes into a Virgin Mobile USA customer's handset, a different tune from the Ringback Playlist's selected station is heard by the caller.

"We've been working with Virgin Mobile USA on our ringback tones service since late last year, and Ringback Playlist is a new industry-first service," said John Orlando, vice president of marketing for LiveWire Mobile, Littleton, MA.

"This takes the heavy lifting off subscribers' shoulders, since the playlist constantly updated based on the genre they select," he said.

Mr. Orlando said that this represents a business model translation for Virgin Mobile USA's partners in the music industry.

"Music is changing from a buying experience to a rental experience, so instead of requiring consumers to buy the songs, someone can actually rent the playlist for that month," Mr. Orlando said.

"The industry is moving from the à la carte model to a subscription model," he said.

LiveWire is working with Virgin Mobile USA's marketing team, which will handle the marketing to the MVNO's subscriber base.

"Their marketing efforts will focus on their user interface, their mobile storefronts, Web stores and WAP stores," Mr. Orlando said. "They'll be launching various marketing campaigns to promote this service."

Ringback Playlists will be available by music genre or trend with additional personalization options that can be set based on the caller, the day of the week and the time of day.

Ringback Playlist is offered to Virgin Mobile USA customers for $3.49 per month, plus a $1.49 monthly ringback subscription fee. If consumers choose to buy individual songs, they can do so for $1.99 per track.

Virgin Mobile USA customers are now able to choose from 10 different channels that feature five ringback selections each, such as pop, hip-hop, alternative, country and television and movie classics.

Virgin Mobile USA will continue to add other Ringback Playlists.

Also, a special Virgin Mobile Festival channel is available, pulling from artists who appeared at the recent Virgin Mobile Festival Aug. 9-10 in Baltimore (see story).

Available tracks include "Mercy" by Duffy, "Let the Drummer Kick" by Citizen Cope, "A Milli" by Lil Wayne, "Flashing Lights" by Kanye West and "Real Wild Child" by Iggy Pop.

Virgin Mobile USA's Ringback Playlist is supported by LiveWire Mobile's Achieve Marketing Team, which will regularly update track selections within the Ringback Playlist and provide specialized campaign support based on continuously collected metrics.

LiveWire Mobile, a subsidiary of NMS Communications Corp., has plans to launch advertising ringbacks, an ad-sponsored model allowing wireless subscribers to get compensated when they allow advertising to be hosted on their handset.

Earlier this summer the company launched its ringtone service on 3 UK, a British carrier (see story).

Virgin Mobile USA's full slate of handsets, including the Wild Card, Slash and Flare, are available at approximately 40,000 retailers nationwide, with Top-Up cards available at more than 140,000 locations.

Virgin Mobile USA lets customers earn free minutes in exchange for viewing advertising content online through the Sugar Mama program and contributes a portion of profits from downloadable content to The RE*Generation, its pro-social initiative to help homeless youth.

Virgin Mobile USA debuted the Ringback Playlist Aug. 1.

"Virgin Mobile has always been at the forefront of innovative services that are fun for people to use," Mr. Orlando said. "They believe in the Ringback Playlist service, which has already become very popular, and they're making it easier for their subscriber base to enjoy them.

"This is a premium service will help Virgin Mobile and its partners, the record labels, sell more content in a different way," he said. "This is a very different business model, and it's an exciting one for all of us."