January 5, 2005
Slamtones: the next big revenue opportunity
Mark Frauenfelder for TheFeature.com, links to an excellent article that originally appeared in the LA Times about nostalgic sounds that are disappearing as consumer technology marches forward:
"The emotional power of vintage sounds might explain the popularity of cell-phone ring tones that mimic rotary telephone bells. “It's one of the biggest ring tones we sell,” said Tom Valentino, president of Valentino Production Music, the nation's oldest sound-effects warehouse. In a similar vein, slot machines that pay out vouchers instead of cash often play a recording of cascading coins because research found customers missed the jackpot noise."
"The article also laments the fact that you can no longer get that satisfying sound of slamming a phone down on the hook when you angrily end a call. Now, here's a real opportunity for carriers: slamtones. I'm serious, says Frauenfelder. People would pay for a service that lets them transmit a slam sound to the person they are talking to on a mobile. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't already available."
I thought I would help and see if I could find a slamtone ringtone somewhere. I haven't so far, but I did come up with this. Someone else thinks this is a business opportunity too.
And elsewhere around the Web, BlueSkyFrog has some "sound effect ringtones", including "psycho" (very scary), school beel, hands clapping and an old phone ring. On Midiringtones you will find the sound of a European phone ringing, an antique cash register, an antique alarm clock or what is sure to cause some confusion, a ringtone that sounds a like a busy signal.
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