Caller tunes are those tunes which are played when some one calls, instead of the usual ‘tring tring’. It could be a popular Indian film number or western music. The phenomenon started in South Korea for the first time 10 years ago. In India, it happened on July 19, 2004 ten years go. Technically these tunes are called CRBT—caller ring back tunes. The estimated market for this is worth Rs. 2000 crore. Around 66 million people have used the service. The business is operated by the telcos, the owner of the music, and the value added service (VAS ) companies like Hungama, OnMobile and One97. The revenue is shared amongst these three. Typically telcos get 50 percent, and copyright owners 20 percent. India’s music industry is worth Rs.900 crore, and caller tunes account for a substantial proportion of it. Caller tunes are tools of individuals expression—expression of the personality of the user. BPL introduced the service limited to Mumbai in June, 2004. As caller tunes are paid for by people, they are a better indicator of the popularity of a song.

In this VAS, the caller does not experience the service he is paying for. Getting people to change the song is difficult. People also tend to forget the song they have subscribed to. In addition, there should be a search and delivery mechanism to enable a user to find what he is looking for.

It includes–

 

* copying a tune a caller hears when he calls another person.

* a song-catcher where a user can dial a number and say a song’s name

* or even place the phone next to a radio or any other device playing the song

* or an IVR ( interactive voice response ) system.

In future, there could be caller tunes with a video aspect.