The art of ring tones
The Ring Tone is probably the most noticeable part of the mobile device user interface since the user hears it for every incoming call. As this article from CNN suggests, one of the most successful business areas has been the sales of Ring Tones.
Back in piip-piip-pi-pi-piip days it was really hard for me to understand why Ring Tones were such a hit. Expensive, short and low quality - didn’t sound like a good deal to me. Now as sound quality gets better and better it becomes more reasonable to buy a Ring Tone. Man, it still makes me wonder how one can buy a Ring Tone of a few seconds that costs an equivalent price of a full song, but luckily everything just doesn’t need to make sense. And after a short brainstorming (today it is the First of May celebration in Finland, using brains isn’t the most clever thing to do…;) it starts to make more sense. For me the success of Ring Tones emphasizes how mobile phones are actually a way for personal expression. From the beginning of the mobile revolution, personalization has hugely helped the development of cellular to leap forward, sometimes even more than the technology innovations. Remember those first Nokia color covers? Or what happened with the first camera phones? You took a picture and made it as wallpaper for your phone. And how about all these nice mobile phone charms?
Usability of Ring Tones is quite a hazy area. Most of them are not very recognizable but still it doesn’t matter so much - what does matter is your emotional attachment to a particular Ring Tone. If you grew up with AC/DC, it’s obvious that Thunderstruck will make your “cocktail party” effect work better than Mozart’s Requiem. And vice versa. As it’s important to keep Ring Tones usable - you can read many good ideas about how to create a cool S60 Ring Tone from this Ring Tone Guideline - it’s even more important to make a user feel good. For example, my mother really started to use her phone after she realized that this new phone actually plays her favorite song every time it ring’s (it was a part of my big “do-not-fear-the-mighty-phone”-campaign). And suddenly, all new calendars, to-do’s and MMS’s made sense to her. It’s not about technological innovations, it’s about breaking the barrier with human and technology. Ring Tones are one sophisticated way to make people feel safe with new stuff. Ring Tones give users experiences!
But still it feels weird, that if you want to make music that sells, you will have a better chance with Ring Tones than with any other form of music. Do I need to start to sell my synthesizer rig?
I just don’t understand why people pay so much for a ring tone when they can do it for free… all you need is an mp3 editor like quick time pro or something..
I think it’s way too much effort for an average user to do a ringtone + QT pro costs too (as I’ve understood).
I think it’s way too much effort for an average user to do a ringtone + QT pro costs too (as I’ve understood).
Yes, qt+ costs. In a way it’s kind of same as it’s with wallpapers, one could easily transform any kind of picture from the web etc as a background picture to phone but who is actually doing it? We have scanners and digicams etc but still sales of wallpapers are growing. It’s not only about the money, it’s about the self expression and propably little bit trying something new. One can easily transform any kind of mp3 to ring tone but still it’s much more trouble for most of the users than just buying it.
There was a rumour that Apple would add possibility to make Ring Tones with iTunes (and even buy them). That would make interesting combination.
Easy is a relative concept. Not everyone works with digital media. Remember that not all the consumers are similar to you. I think it is great that the ringing tones sales grow.
Don’t sell your synth rig just yet, there was an article on “the missing ring-tone millions” on a recent FiveEight magazine… (http://www.fiveeight.net/)
My personal experiences with ringtones are not that good either, with the tone providers interpreting copyright rules quite differently than artists and the “royalty” being notoriously low.
Yes it’s shame that original piece of music doesn’t sound very much like original one. And more over, artist should really be one to get proper roylaties. I think that ringtones are little bit “add-on” for regular mp3 or cd or dvd sales.
I’m just wondering when there’s going to be unique ringtones composed by bill board artists? Like, what would Eminem or U2 or Madonna or Red Hot Chili Peppers do (or their ghost writers)? How would creative people handle luxurous 10-15 second and make ringtone kick! That would be interesting.