The topic of ringtones caught my attention recently. Ringtones are everywhere. Your mobile phone comes with a selection of them so you can distinguish your phone from others in a crowded bar, or assign a ringtone to a specific contact, like a best friend or your favorite (or worst) relative.
But when you are on the bus and suddenly hear The Cantina Band (The Modal Nodes) from that dusty Tatooine bar in Star Wars and look around only to realize it is a ringtone (no Gweedo, no light sabers, nothing!), your first thought, like mine, would probably be “Cool, where did he get that?” And then, “did he actually pay for that? Who made it, and why?”
The Market
According to its annual mobile music market projections for 2008, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) predicts that the U.S. market for ringtones will further decline this year to $510 million in sales, down from $550 million in 2007. Interestingly, though less than half the size of the ringtone market, the market for “ringback tones” is expected to increase. (A ringback tone is a musical clip heard by a caller when placing a call to another mobile phone).
So mobile phone users coughed up $550 million for ringtones last year?
Having purchased only one ringtone in my life (The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”), and having only one friend who once actually used a ringback tone on his phone, I turned to SW at Decca Records to fill me in on the current state of ringtones and the role they play in today’s multimedia experience. (more…)
