After opening a can of holy-mackerel-batman on sr Frattini a few moments ago, damn me if the NYT's David Pogue doesn't want a little as well: A Baffling New Phenomenon: Customized Ringtones.
... Apple is selling a ringtone and the full song together for $2, and claims that that's a bargain.
As it turns out, that's correct—at least compared with existing sources for ringtone sales. Pop song ringtones from T-Mobile and Sprint cost $2.50 apiece; from Verizon, $3. You don't get to customize them, choose the start and end points, adjust the looping and so on.
Incredibly, after 90 days, every Sprint ringtone dies, and you have to pay another $2.50 if you want to keep it. Verizon's last only a year.
Three bucks for a 30-second snippet that lasts a year—when you can buy the entire song online for $1 and own it forever?
What am I missing here?
Someone call Johnnie Moore or Seth Godin and get them to talk to David about branding, about status. Unfortunately neo-liberal economists don't accept the existence of social economics, damn it they don't accept the existence of society so how could they? And it look like DP is one of those.
My daughter gave me the hard word on her 21st birthday gift - a bright yellow oversized, Gucci handbag that cost more than my first car. (OK it was a clapped out Austin A30 but it was a CAR.) What's more, said handbag is now thoroughly seasoned, somewhat battered and has GAINED in value as a status symbol.
$1 for a ringtone that expires IS a bargain in a social group that might blow $300 plus on a pair of star-endorsed Nikes (I can get GREAT shoes for under $100, so why would I spend more?) or wear their sweaters with the labels on the OUTside.
Maybe DP doesn't understand that the song behind the musical ringtone probably has a shelf life of 6 WEEKS and that after the first month it may get played half a dozen times in the rest of the owner's LIFE if it isn't deleted in a couple of years.
Pop music burns out and dies in short order, it has to, so that the next one can take its place. In fact, I wonder how David thinks about cigarettes...
"Good god man, you've paid $8 for that pack of ciggies, and now you're going to BURN them? What the hell are you thinking?"
And as for this..
No, I'm sure that, if you follow the ringtone gravy train to its source, you'll find record-company executives. There they'll be sitting, rubbing their hands together with glee and hoping that their young customers don't identify the ringtone industry for what it is: the last great digital rip off.
Hah, that would require the people who have screamed bloody murder about digital music for the last 20 years to get a clue.
/snark for the day. I hope.
Comments