Today most cell phone ringtones are snippets of existing songs. The ringtone has become a cultural tool that is always growing in popularity and is heading into a phase of rapid transformation.

Today, in the US mobile market, ringtones and ring back tones have become a very popular novelty for many users. Moreover, Instead of listening to the same standard ring as you wait for the other party to pick up, ring backs deliver a customized song. Younger users are embracing ring back tones on a wide scale. For carriers, ring backs offer yet another non-voice revenue opportunity, with full song downloads, music videos and ringtones already expanding their monthly revenues. While ring backs in India may be Bollywood-inspired, US mobile users prefer hip-hop or rock music.

For the young American, brash and catchy hip-hop beats and fast rock lyrics are the perfect mobile ringers. Meanwhile, hip-hop artists are helping to attract mobile consumers through ringtone exclusives. Other popular types of ringtones include reggae, Bollywood songs, Hispanic songs and also a lot of Arabic music. Also with the advent of digital music, even a lot of video clips along with music are used as ringtones on more advanced, video-capable phones.

Today, the Hispanic and the Asian users in the mobile market have increased so fast that the ringtones trends vary from state to state depending upon the ethnicity of the population. Falling prices of handsets, multiple music applications and high profile and co-branded devices will create new customer segments for mobile content services and drive these markets. So in the American ringtone market, everything from R&B, hip hop, reggae, hard rock, jazz, soul, country music, Bollywood, Bhangra, Chinese traditional, oriental or even music of African origin can be used as ringtones. And with this cross cultural Web always growing larger, the future of the ringtone industry will be a combination of all kinds of music from all across the world.