Instant Xmas Musical Message.

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Back in my day, nine-year-olds were able to talk to their cousins merely by traipsing through a crossfire blizzard for half an hour to visit them at their house. This was in Scotland in the 1970s where telephones were as rare as the term 'suave' was common.

No sooner had I pressed 'publish' on my previous entry, which aired my perspective on gadgetry, when I was bombarded by technology at every turn, as if being laughed at, pointed at and kicked in the nether-regions by The Devils Hoof. Not being one to believe in coincidences I attempted and am still attempting to discover what all the fuss is about.....and why.

The first 'techno-oddity' that I encountered was that the date of publication of the first entry to this blog. It states December, 22nd. It was, infact, published very late on the 24th. Even allowing for global timelines there should be no such discrepancy. I haven't lost any sleep on that one. Two days later, as my kids were messing about with their Xmas presents, I was more than taken aback when I switched on the television to check on the cricket score. Typically, it was an ad break.

Down here in Australia we have become immune to  this, amongst other forms of advertising. What I couldn't swallow was the fact that every single advertisement was for toys! As if parents hadn't gone out of their way enough for their children and children weren't already enjoying the festivities, these bright, loud and slick advertisements bombard us in what can only be called 'inappropriate.' (Actually, I have a few other words to add but not here). The age-group targeted was to be from 6-10. No secret was made of this as each advertisement hurriedly mentioned it at the end. When it came to the fifth advertisement I gave up on the cricket score. Such a small luxury at a supposedly festive time was blasted from my mind. (Fortunately the game was a walkover and I was only seeking a score to satisfy some deep-seated tradition that I have developed since emigrating here in 1979).

Later on that day I was in for a real eye-opener.

My nine-year-old daughter was sitting next to me on the couch messing about with her mobile phone. The phone, which she acquired from her Mum, had the numbers of her Mum, myself and her nine-year-old cousin. There is enough credit on the phone to ring either her Mum or myself in an emergency or to text her cousin at 1c per text. My curiosity got the better of me and I asked her what the phone actually 'did.' As she flipped from one 'app' to the next I could myself increasing in age more rapidly than I was ten minutes earlier.

After the third or fourth app I started becoming light-headed as my interest wained until I saw something on the screen that I actually recognised. P.D.F! I'd seen that before.....but I wasn't 100% sure of what it was. This was enough to re-ignite my interest, however. Imagine my delight when my daughter reached the part of the phone where the ringtones were stored. I thought I'd died and gone to Vegas when I saw the first two were 'Smoke On The Water' and 'The Benny Hill Theme.' It got better. My daughter told me that these were two of her three favourite ringtones with the third being 'Advertising Space' by Robbie Williams. (I kid you not).

So there I was being over the moon that not only did my daughter have 'my' kind of music on her mobile phone but she did it without being brainwashed into it by ads or her parents. 'Smoke On The Water' is occasionally advertised on 'Best Of' albums, 'The Benny Hill Theme' doesn't need advertising, nor does the Robbie Williams track, both for totally different reasons.

So where does this leave the independent musician?

Fortunately, sites such as Nimbit, Audiolife, ReverbNation and MyMusicSite have made it possible for us to make our own ringtones available for download on a near-global scale. In internet terms it's still somewhat primitive, with editing

and costing being done by the site. Reading the blurb from each of the sites, they state that they are still attempting to improve the costing issue but due to the fact that it is dependent on a vast array of service providers globally, no adequate solution seems imminent....so we're told.

I find this unfortunate on every front that this is the case. First and foremost, service providers stand to be the first to gain from allowing independent musicians the flexibility to set their own price. As is the case with having a free account with Nimbit, as I do, a minimum price is set by the company. Surely with the potential supplementary cash flow that we're dealing with here, this could be achieved. Admittedly this wouldn't allow independent musicians the ability to offer free ringtones but it would be a vast improvement on the current situation where a 30-second ringtone costs can cost upwards of three times the entire track. This doesn't have to be the case.

There is one area of producing ringtones that baffles me. I have no idea why one is unable to create their own  30-second ringtone as opposed to either the first 30 seconds of a track or a randomly selected clip. I find editing song-clips as previews to my commercially available material on Nimbit not only immensely enjoyable, it has proven to me that it really does make a difference as to how it is received.

Although a baffling oversight on behalf of the major players who seem able to squeeze money from every quarter and at every turn, I suspect that this may well change.

In the meantime, I'll exercise my right to misplace my mobile phone for a few days only to have it turn-up floating in the bath or inside a CD cover.

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