Ringtones What's the Point

A quick Google search will produce countless articles trying to understand the popularity of 'ringtones'; hundreds of bloggers waxing lyrical about the benefits to personalize their mobile phones. Interviews with "experts" prophesy ring sexy theories about ringtones and identity construction loan an academic seriousness to the Crazy Frog phenomena. The figures are pretty serious too, in the U.S. alone, Yankee Group predicts, ringtones will be worth $ 500 million. It is about GDP in Fiji.

Obviously our cell phones need a voice, but not to vote should be a polyphonic adaptation of 'Living on a Prayer'?

The latest figures show that young people are the biggest consumers of mobile music. According to an English survey, 15-24 year olds account for 80% of ringtone costs. Studies by Nick Anderson of Sussex University show that young people are much more aware of the "brand personalty" (the particular identity associated with certain brands) than older generations. Anderson suggests that teenagers can deduce a person's character, likes and dislikes, by their branded possessions. Given the amount of branding in the music industry, it is not unreasonable to say that popular musicians have their own "brand personality". So, your 50 Cent ringtone, for example, communicates not only your taste in music, but also your compliance to the whole 'Fiddy' meme. Ultimately, for brand savvy youth, this says something about your personality that you hope everyone within earshot understands.

If a phone rings in the woods, but nobody is around to hear it, you're still down with 50 Cent? Ringtones are about personalization, and about public performance. The publicness of the ringtone is an integral part of its appeal. It is unlikely that anyone would have a ring tone on their landline. In a noisy urban soundscape as the city, silence is an anomaly. Personalized ringtones are simply another irritating sound in the hullabaloo. Most of us manage tune out the sounds imposed on us, piped music, Hawkers, traffic, O'Reily factor, so why try and impose yet another squawk? Perhaps the ringtone is the audio equivalent of territorial pissing; thirty seconds, where you select audio tracks. For a moment, when your mobile rings the 50 Cent meme is the most powerful in the sonic environment. Where "Fiddy" is relatively redundant as a social force, certain ringtones allow citizens to demonstrate their dissatisfaction or support of a cause. Independent radio station WFMU have created a number of anti-George W. Bush ringtones available for download, while engadget.com allows users to choose their preferred presidential candidate ringtone. Condemnation of the other commuters to several of 50 Cent, the theme from 'Star Wars' or a Dubya quote demonstrates your individual tastes and allows others distinguish you as either nemesis or brethren.

In our efforts to alleviate poverty, impede environmental disaster or cure the global AIDS epidemic, ringtones are totally and utterly useless. When it comes to enforcing the myth that everyone is special, the artificial uniqueness of a personalized ringtone is just the ticket. Paradoxically, this demonstration of individualism is only really effective in a crowd. As far as this writer's concerned the real purpose of ringtones lies in their ridiculousness. A recent gathering of sensible adults turned to hilarity thanks to an impromptu game of "Name that tune". Use Foovely ringtone preview function, those gathered took turns choosing snippets of songs for the party to guess. In recognition of a song in 30 seconds are so much harder in mono phone!