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 on the benefits of personalising their cell
phones. Interviews with "experts" profering sexy theories about
ringtones and identity construction lend an academic seriousness
to the Crazy Frog phenomena. The figures are pretty serious too,
in the U.S.A. alone, the Yankee Group predicts, ringtones will
be worth $500 million. That's roughly the GDP of Fiji. Obviously
our cell phones needs a voice, but does that voice need to be a
polyphonic adaptation of 'Living on a Prayer'?
The latest figures indicate that young people are the greatest
consumers of mobile music. According to one UK survey, 15-24
year olds account for 80% of ringtone spending. Studies by Nick
Anderson of Sussex University show that young people are far
more aware of the "brand personalty" (the particular identity
affiliated with certain brands) than older generations. Anderson
suggests that teenagers can deduce a person's character, likes
and dislikes, by their branded possessions. Considering the
amount of branding in the music industry, it's not unreasonable
to say that popular musicians have their own "brand
personality". So, your 50 Cent ringtone, for example,
communicates not only a your taste in music, but also your
compliance to the whole 'Fiddy' meme. Ultimately, for brand
savvy youth, this says something about your personality, which,
you hope, everybody within earshot understands.
If a cell phone rings in the woods but nobody is around to
hear it, are you 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's unlikely that anyone would have a ringtone on their
landline. In a noisy urban soundscape like the city, silence is
an anomaly. Personalised ringtones are simply another irritating
sound in the hullabaloo. Most of us manage tune out the sounds
imposed on us: muzak, hawkers, traffic, the O'Reily factor, so
why try and impose yet another squawk? Perhaps the ringtone is
the audio equivalent of territorial pissing; thirty seconds in
which YOU pick the soundtrack. For a few moments when your cell
phone 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 variety of anti- George W. Bush ringtones
available for download, while engadget.com allows users to
choose their preferred presidential candidate ringtone.
Condemning other commuters to several cycles 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 relieve poverty, impede environmental disaster
or cure the global AIDs epidemic, ringtones are totally and
utterly useless. When it comes to enforcing the myth that every
individual 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 improvised game
of "Name that tune". Using Foovely's ringtone preview function,
those gathered took turns choosing snippets of songs for the
party to guess. Recognising a song in 30 seconds is SO much
harder in monophone!