Baubles and Ringtones
2007-09-14 04:55PM PDT/Home
Apple's recent release of a custom ringtone feature for the iPhone, and the accompanying 99 cent fee to use them has caused quite an uproar.
The strange thing to me about ringtones is that they have value only because at some point someone was willing to pay for them. You could argue that about a lot of things I suppose, but ringtones really take this argument to the limit. It all feels like a weird game theory dilemma to me, with all due respect to the prisoner's dilemma:
Three people are asked to pay a price for a bauble. If they all refuse to pay then they all can get the bauble for free because it appears to be worthless. But if anyone pays the asked price then they would all have to pay the price.
Roughly Drafted has an interesting article which claims what we're really paying for is a performance license, based on the argument that the ring is played in public. However, we're not paying for a license of a copy of the song because the ringtone is not the complete work.
My head hurts.
Update: What's my absolute all-time favorite Apple ringtone feature? My wife added several to her phone without needing me to do a damn thing. While I don't understand the appeal, she and the kids are stoked that her phone plays the theme song to Harry Potter when someone calls. Who am I to argue?
Update: Well thought out article in Macworld on ringtones which contradicts the Roughly Drafted opinion that we're paying for a performance license. Instead we're paying the automatic "cover band" rights to record a song.
This is essentially the "cover band" rule—if you want to record someone else’s song, you’re free to do so as long as you pay the royalty rates as outlined by the Copyright Office at the time of the recording. You don’t have the automatic right to perform the musical work in public performance, or to sell recordings for commercial use (such as background music or for use in a film or other public presentation), but you can record a song for sale to ordinary people for their private use.