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SocialTones ~ Help Wanted

February 7, 2008

Ringtones have intrigued me for years.  In 2005 at the Web 2.0 conference I saw a panel of teenagers that I will never forget.  The average teenager interviewed spent $20-60 per month buying ringtones at prices ranging from one to four dollars each.  $1 for a monophonic tune?  When the moderator asked the very same teenagers how much they spent buying mp3s (i.e. via iTunes for 99 cents each) they erupted suggesting that buying songs was a rip-off.  Huh?  Hi-fidelity versions at full-length for less than the cheesy monophonic shortened version?  I didn’t understand it, but these teenagers felt that buy offer the music on their phone it was ‘value-added’.  While ringtones intrigued me I always thought that it was a dying business.  How could it last?  Surely people would (as Wired suggested) Stop Paying for Ring Tones.

So here I am in Steamboat Springs Colorado skiing and I have this idea for a ringtone business.  Lets call the business SocialTones for purposes of this post.  Here is the idea:

  • Add your contacts to SocialTones (via MySpace, Facebook or your address book).
  • SocialTones emails/calls each of your contacts and suggests that you want them to select the ringtone you will hear when they call you.
  • Anyone can register with SocialTones and select ‘their’ ringtone for free.  They can update their ringtone at any time.
  • Subscribers (who pay something like $25/year) can sync/subscribe their phone’s address book and ringtone list with SocialTones.

So the ringtones are free, the social part requires a subscription.  What do you think?  Ideas?  Suggestions?  Anyone want to do it?  We can help you…  Call me.

Written by Alexander Muse · Filed Under Blog, Startups 

Comments

One Response to “SocialTones ~ Help Wanted”

  1. Phillip Says:
    February 11th, 2008 at 3:19 pm

    I love this piece - it deals with the whole idea of perceived value, there is no absolute value only perceived value. To these ring tone lovers the value is in the tone they carry in their pocket and collect with their friends, kind of like trading cards. “hey check out my new ring tone…” It also leverages an existing investment they have - the phone. Young people want “playability” not “top end graphics” to borrow from the game industry. Adults want the best quality picture, the young people want an infinitely re-playable (pun intended) social experience.

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