Ringtones Ringing Sales Relate to Celeb Gossip, Deaths, & Marriages

Rringtone sales are effected by celebrity news and gossip. For example, when it was announced that the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch had cancer, his ringtone sales jumped 64 percent.
 
Zed, a leading digital entertainment company, analyzed sales of ringtones from a number of its carrier partners and found that celebrity gossip does influence fans' purchasing decisions:
 

• when Michael Jackson died, his ringtone sales soared more than 9,544 percent!
• when T.I. went to jail, his ringtone sales jumped up 19 percent week over week.
• when Fergie got married and Kevin Jonas got engaged, ringtone sales dropped 10 percent and 16 percent respectively.
• when Chris Brown and Rihanna suffered domestic issues, ringtones dropped 18 percent and 28 percent respectively.

No one has yet to do a study on what happened to BlackBerry sales after Paris Hilton gave her BlackBerry up in order to promote Sony Ericsson phones and said, "Sorry BlackBerry, I'm now a Sony Ericcson user and very excited."