At its broadest, my assertion is that the development of the ringtone is a powerful lens through which we might clearly view some of the dynamics of present day (or �late�) capitalist cultural production, including the development of new rentier economies within oligopolistic sectors of production and consumption, and a long�term shift in global productive dominance from North America to the Pacific Rim.
This essay attempts to provide a description of the global ringtone industry, to determine and assess the numerous cultural consequences of the ringtone’s appearance and development, and to situate the ringtone within the context of contemporary capitalism.
Ringtones, or the auditory logic of globalization
