"Blingtones" go platinum
Believe it or not, the Recording Industry Association of America does something besides sue music fans. Most recently, it's extended its gold- and platinum-album awards to cell-phone ringtones. The Associated Press dubs the first-ever awards -- which substitute a gold or platinum cell phone for the customary precious-metal disc -- "blingtones." In total, 84 musicians received golden cell phones for sales of 500,000 or more ringtones, 40 received platinum ones for sales above a million, and 4 received multiplatinum awards for sales that topped 2 million.
About 10 percent of music-industry revenues now come from ringtones, making hot-selling blingtones an increasingly important part of the business. Even Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz took notice, wondering if the industry would need to invent a level above multiplatinum, since the audience for ringtones consists of more than a billion cell-phone users worldwide. 
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