Via Make: comes this interesting story over on Wired, “Roll Your Own Ringtone” (Link). I’ve not kept up with either music freeware or the latest in cell phone annoyances; enough to try to keep up with what I blog here on a daily basis. But this struck me because of how ringtones popped up on the musical radar seemingly out of nowhere, became a startingly large industry almost overnight, and is now on the verge of having the masses basically take control of the product. In my opinion, few products more fittingly represent the future then the humble ringtone. And now that eBay has started supporting digital-downloadable offerings, we might see a few success stories in the coming months.

I wonder how these breakbeat Beethovens are going to protect their creations and cash in on their work. Other than the first few MSM oddities and the rare hidden talent, I suspect most will go unnoticed; not like they can go out on tour with a supporting band and sell concert tickets and t-shirts. Lars is probably grinning from ear-to-ear at the thought of this. Just wait til all those Napster-loving kids have the tables turned on them. I bet most don’t make it through the first round.

{Update: Another article over on Wired about this: Link. Control just continues to slip away, doesn’t it?}