Eric Lindert, CEO, HighWired

The entertainment industry and the telecom industry have always had an uneasy partnership. More than once telcos and mobile carriers have flirted with entering the content business only to ultimately realize where their core strength remains — in distribution.

As someone who started two independent record labels and later sold them to major music conglomerates, Eric Lindert knows a thing or two about distribution. He also knows Lance Bass from ‘N Sync, actress Carmen Diaz and has plans to work with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg.

Backing up a bit, Lindert is the CEO of HighWired, a company whose PersonifyStudio application allows mobile users to record personalized voice mail greetings, ringtones, song dedications and other audio and video messages by consulting libraries of music, soundscapes, images and even real celebrity voices through a Web interface and using mixing technology to pull it all together.

HighWired's application looks to advance on the growing popularity of ringtones, which accounted for at least 10% of all data downloaded. That's where mobile carriers come in. “Distribution is a personal passion of mine,” Lindert said. “We're about bringing entertainment and communications together, and telephony is the distribution [platform].”

Though he hails from the entertainment industry, Lindert recognizes how long it can take to win telecom company support for new applications. However, in addition to several content executives coming from the entertainment world, the company also is armed with executives that have previous experience at companies such as PacBell (now SBC) and Verizon.

Lindert said HighWired also wants to work closely with carriers to develop localized content for their specific customer bases. But telecom firms should leave the show business shmoozing to HighWired. “When you come from inside the entertainment industry, it's easier to do things like celebrity greetings because the celebrities know and respect us,” Lindert said. “Anybody else might need a half a million dollars to get near these people.”