Pinger has launched the beta of a new version of its Pingercast a messaging service that lets indie musicians, comedians and other small-time entertainers send audio broadcasts directly to their fans' cell phones. The original Pingercast was only available to large film distributors, record labels and political figures.

Now, lesser-known and would-be celebrities can send Pingercast to give sneak peeks at a new tune, send tour updates share exclusive content, for example.

Pingercast is free during the beta phase. Users just need to visit the site and set up a subscription widget to gather names and numbers of fans who want to opt-in, record their message and send it off. Fans can reply to the messages and forward them to friends. Pinger also has some online tools to help manage Pingercast campaigns and see how many people listened, replied to and forwarded a message.