me&now: Ringtones/Ringbacks

July 15, 2006 • By Anthony Vazquez

So you’re sitting in class trying desperately to pay attention or in a staff meeting trying desperately to not pay attention.
And then, all of a sudden, “Shake that lafy taffy…ho…Shake that lafy taffy…” is blaring from your pockets and everyone is looking at you. Darn, no one is a fan of D4L. You think you should check it. It’s your friend. I better mute it, and you do. The looks may hold for a moment; but, eventually everyone continues what they’re doing because it was only your cell phone.

The age of the Internet and Viagra has struck again with two new phenomena; the ringtone and the ringback. But these aren’t those annoying blips and beeps from a decade ago. Now, ringtones and ringbacks are full digital-quality songs from your favorite artists. So, now your ringtone could be anything you might be digging on at the moment.

And ringtone’s cousin, the ringback, which replaces the ringing of a call you’re making with a full, digital-quality song, is also catching fire. And because of this, ringtones and ringbacks have become big business. Now, artists from many genres have converted their songs to ringtones and ringbacks while many independent artists are also trying to get their music across by pushing their catalog through ringtones and ringbacks. The future of music is now.