The Buzz on Ringtones – October 2009
Most people despise television ads so much that they PVR/DVR/TiVO most programmes so that they can forward through it. Poor, ignored advertisers. Maybe they should take a page from Vodafone’s book and allow their next jingle to be played by cellular ringtones.
The New Zealand division of international cell phone giant Vodafone has been scoring hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3nSoEhY8SM) with its innovative new television advert involving a symphony created with 53 distinct ringtones.
The Vodafone Symphonia, a remarkable cellular version of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, was created using a thousand mobile phones and two thousand text messages. Now THAT is an impressive jingle.
We wonder if it will be turned into a ringtone?
If so, and your phone chimes it out in a public space, your network carrier won’t have to pay royalties. Well, at least, not if you’re in the U.S. and your carrier is Verizon Wireless.
In mid-October, a U.S. federal judge ruled that Verizon Wireless won’t be liable to pay public performance royalties when a ringtone is played in public.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) had taken that carrier, as well as AT&T, to court to get the operators to pay royalties every time users’ cellphones chimed out the latest Beyoncé, Kanye – or whichever artist’s music is available in ringtone – in a public place.
However, Judge Denise Cote ruled that the ring itself does not qualify as a public performance under the Copyright Act. She also stated that the operators already pay a mechanical fee and that they make money from selling the ringtone, not from having it played. She also said that consumers do not intend to make a profit from their ringtones.
Well, not to be argumentative, but our guess is that some people would actually pay some cellphone users to just please make their choice of loud ringtones stop in public. Because as we all know, your favourite hit of the moment could be someone else’s biggest irritation.
In Egypt, they are taking the annoyance factor of ringtones and general cellphone usage very seriously. The North African country’s official telecommunications regulatory body has launched a formal Code of Ethics for mobile phones. The 16-point guide, compiled by the Egypt’s National Telecom Regulatory Authority and the Consumer Rights Protection Committee warns against annoying others with ringtones, loud conversations and advises about when to switch off cellphones.
The Egyptian Ethics Code guide has the following to say about particularly ringtones: “Choose a non-annoying ringtone. Ringtones aim mainly to make the mobile user know that he has got a call.” What, do they consider Beyoncé loudly calling “all the single ladies” to be a bit much to notify you that you have a phone call then? Our guess would be yes.
The guide goes on to say that mobile phones should never be used to violate others’ privacy or to “annoy or tease” other people.
So remember, if you and your cellphone travel to Egypt, you may have to Walk (AND Talk!) Like An Egyptian! (Yes, we totally couldn’t resist.)