G
Guest
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I had no idea. I only use my cell phone to call cabs cos I programmed the nos. in. I don't even know what my tone is. P. 
Lord of the rings - Ringtones now account for 10% of the world's music market, generating a staggering $3bn. So shouldn't they have their own chart? - Alexis Petridis, May 21, 2004, The Guardian
Until recently, your average record company executive probably reacted to the sound of a mobile phone blaring out its ringtone with the same weary resignation as the rest of us. Like reality TV or clipboard-clutching charity muggers, they were one of modern life's petty irritants.
In 2004, however, your average record company executive is more likely to stifle a cheer every time he hears a tinny version of a chart hit bleeping from a nearby Nokia. According to some sources, the mobile phone ringtone has come to save the music industry.
Three years ago, personalised ringtones were given away free on websites run by amateurs, who dedicated their spare time to programming mobiles to play Eminem songs instead of merely ringing - a hobby that seemed to rank alongside translating the Bible into Klingon for pointlessness. Nobody would call ringtones pointless today.
Last year, mobile phone users spent $3bn on them. They account for 10% of the world's music market. Over the next 12 months, more and more new phones will play "mastertones" - not bleepy electronic facsimiles of chart hits, but the hits themselves. Unlike the current monophonic and polyphonic ringtones, their sales will generate money for record companies. There is talk of mastertones ultimately replacing the ailing single format.
...
"It's only a matter of time before someone comes up with a mastertone chart," says Rob Wells, new media director of Universal Music UK, "and before that starts to carry more weight than the singles chart. I absolutely, definitely, believe one hundred percent that ringtones should be included in the charts."
...
According to Paul Reilly, technical adviser on a terrifying-sounding publication called Ringtone Magazine, their appeal has spread far beyond schoolchildren. "We started putting pages in the magazine about classic ringtones and we discovered that a lot of people's parents, who saw the magazine lying around the house, bought them. People also change their ringtone depending on where they are. I'm a Celtic fan, so when I'm at a football match, I have a Celtic ringtone, but I live near the Ibrox stadium, so when I go home at night, I have to change it."
...
"Their popularity demonstrates that kids still care about music in a very definite way. They're taking the song they like and using it as a way of manifesting their identity. When a ringtone blares out on the bus or in the middle of a film, it says 'I'm here, and this is what I like.' It's like wearing a badge with your favourite band's name on."
...
Top 10 ringtones
1 D12 My Band
2 Eamon F**k It (I Don't Want You Back)
3 Frankee FU Right Back
4 Special D Come With Me
5 Rasmus In the Shadows
6 Usher featuring Ludacris Yeah
7 Anastasia Left Outside of Love
8 The Simpsons TV and Movies Theme
9 DJ Casper Cha Cha Slide
10 Mario Winans and Puff Daddy Don't Wanna Know
full article
Lord of the rings - Ringtones now account for 10% of the world's music market, generating a staggering $3bn. So shouldn't they have their own chart? - Alexis Petridis, May 21, 2004, The Guardian
Until recently, your average record company executive probably reacted to the sound of a mobile phone blaring out its ringtone with the same weary resignation as the rest of us. Like reality TV or clipboard-clutching charity muggers, they were one of modern life's petty irritants.
In 2004, however, your average record company executive is more likely to stifle a cheer every time he hears a tinny version of a chart hit bleeping from a nearby Nokia. According to some sources, the mobile phone ringtone has come to save the music industry.
Three years ago, personalised ringtones were given away free on websites run by amateurs, who dedicated their spare time to programming mobiles to play Eminem songs instead of merely ringing - a hobby that seemed to rank alongside translating the Bible into Klingon for pointlessness. Nobody would call ringtones pointless today.
Last year, mobile phone users spent $3bn on them. They account for 10% of the world's music market. Over the next 12 months, more and more new phones will play "mastertones" - not bleepy electronic facsimiles of chart hits, but the hits themselves. Unlike the current monophonic and polyphonic ringtones, their sales will generate money for record companies. There is talk of mastertones ultimately replacing the ailing single format.
...
"It's only a matter of time before someone comes up with a mastertone chart," says Rob Wells, new media director of Universal Music UK, "and before that starts to carry more weight than the singles chart. I absolutely, definitely, believe one hundred percent that ringtones should be included in the charts."
...
According to Paul Reilly, technical adviser on a terrifying-sounding publication called Ringtone Magazine, their appeal has spread far beyond schoolchildren. "We started putting pages in the magazine about classic ringtones and we discovered that a lot of people's parents, who saw the magazine lying around the house, bought them. People also change their ringtone depending on where they are. I'm a Celtic fan, so when I'm at a football match, I have a Celtic ringtone, but I live near the Ibrox stadium, so when I go home at night, I have to change it."
...
"Their popularity demonstrates that kids still care about music in a very definite way. They're taking the song they like and using it as a way of manifesting their identity. When a ringtone blares out on the bus or in the middle of a film, it says 'I'm here, and this is what I like.' It's like wearing a badge with your favourite band's name on."
...
Top 10 ringtones
1 D12 My Band
2 Eamon F**k It (I Don't Want You Back)
3 Frankee FU Right Back
4 Special D Come With Me
5 Rasmus In the Shadows
6 Usher featuring Ludacris Yeah
7 Anastasia Left Outside of Love
8 The Simpsons TV and Movies Theme
9 DJ Casper Cha Cha Slide
10 Mario Winans and Puff Daddy Don't Wanna Know
full article
, to be able to say, like Lewis Carroll: "You know the word, chortle? I coined it." Or with Nabokov, it would be nymphet and the concept of the Lolita. Who knows what it might be for you or for me, but that kind of thing is immortality, dude.
