It was bound to happen. New Media Age (sub.req) reports that T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange are increasing the number of music tracks to make up for flat ringtone sales. T-Mobile currently has a music store with content supplied by Openwave-owned mobile music and app provider Musiwave. According to the article, T-Mobile is “expected to offer a selection of tracks throughout the summer.” (No details on how many or how it plans to extend its music service…)

Orange is also stockpiling music content to offset the slowdown in mastertones. It will grow its catalogue which dipped when it switched from Groove Mobile to Musiwave. (Orange revealed the precise stats on music downloads and ringtones in its new content sales index reported on here.) The article quotes an Orange spokesman as saying: “Musiwave has a smaller library but it’s working hard to increase it.”

Likewise, Vodafone is also growing its music offering – but will focus on genres such as Bollywood and classical music. Vodafone has over 500,000 tracks on offer but only around 20 percent of these have ever been purchased. “You can have as much music as you like, but if the customer isn’t buying it then what’s the point?” said Tom McLennan, category manager for music at Vodafone. He added: “You need a sizeable base to get the service going and establish credibility against iTunes.”