The South African music mogul who pioneered the ringtone

After an extensive career in the global music business, South African-born Ralph Simon went into telecommunications, where he pioneered the modern-day ringtone.

Simon was born in Johannesburg and attended King Edward VII High School before completing a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Witwatersrand in 1969.

He told the Third Story Podcast that his love for live music started when he received a scholarship to be assigned to an American company and produce a report.

His stay in the US lasted for two months, and while he was there, he attended the Fillmore East theatre in New York, a rock venue owned by promoter Bill Graham.

Upon returning to South Africa, Simon wanted to recreate the live concerts he had experienced in the US in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.

He went on to start South Africa’s biggest outdoor rock festival, leading him to Zimbabwe, where he began a record label and publishing company with Clive Calder.

The label, Clive Calder Productions (CCP), was best known for discovering artists such as Brenda Fassie, Mandoza, Chicco Twala, Aba Shant, and Arthur Mafokate.

While working at CCP, Calder and Simon met record producer Robert Lange. Opposing the apartheid regime, the three moved to the UK and formed Zomba Records, named after a town in Malawi.

Simon said the move was difficult as they were unfamiliar with the British music scene, resulting in Zomba being established as a publishing and management company.

Thanks to Lange’s development as a songwriter and producer helped the company establish credibility in the foreign industry.

Lange eventually went on to work with acts like Def Leppard and Bryan Adams, and recorded AC/DC’s Back in Black, which sold 50 million units globally.

After a few years in the UK, Calder and Simon took their business to the US in 1978, establishing a record label named Jive Records under the Zomba Group.

Jive achieved incredible success in the upcoming US music scenes, such as hip-hop and R&B, discovering artists like A Tribe Called Quest, and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.

Following an “ethical disagreement”, Calder bought out Simon’s stake in Zomba in the early 1990s. At the time, the business was valued at over $225 million or R4.9 billion by today’s standards.

Entering the telecommunications sector

Simon remained in the music industry until 1997, serving as the executive vice president of Capitol Records and Blue Note Records.

After noticing how pervasive mobile devices were becoming throughout society, he pivoted into the mobile sector with his startup, Yourmobile.

“I always thought that there was a synthesis between emerging technologies and entertainment,” Simon told the Third Story.

“Soon it became clear that if you could find a commercial ringtone service, and more importantly, you could sell it to a telco to use as their ringtone system. That would be the grand prize.”

However, he said this was initially a very difficult pitch to make to record labels, as they did not see the value in licensing music for ringtones, a nascent media form at the time.

That was until he met Jody Gerson, a lawyer and head of business affairs for ATV Music. She was responsible for licensing acts like The Beatles, Nora Jones, and Bryan Adams.

Simon said that when he made his pitch to her, she immediately accepted the offer, having been on the lookout for a way to get her publishing rights into mobile media.

This allowed Yourmobile to approach other labels for licensing rights, having the company in charge of The Beatles on board.

Simon and his team created monophonic ringtones using the required copyright licenses, bringing in additional revenue for these major music publishers.

In 2003, Yourmobile was sold to Vivendi, a French media conglomerate, and the company was renamed Moviso.

Simon founded the Mobilium Global group two years earlier, where his business interests have remained ever since.

“I’ve been on a relentless mission to try and find really cool mobile tech and innovations around the world,” Simon said.

“In doing so, I also look for new thinkers, doers, and makers in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and different forms of blockchain that will change the notion of creative output.”

Simon believes that blockchain technology will significantly impact how creatives license and control the rights to their creations in the future.