LG Electronics is leading the trend using songs by the Real Group as ringtones for its 30 models. Users of LG cell phones enjoy songs by the Swedish a cappella group when they get a call, make a call, turn on or off the phone, or push the slide up or down.

The Real Group is one of the world’s most popular a cappella groups, having sold some 5 million albums around the world and playing more than 2,000 concerts. LG Electronics in 2006 asked the group to compose songs for ringtones, and the band accepted and came up with some 50 of them. Some are just two to three seconds long, but others play for more than three minutes.

Swedish a cappella jazz combo The Real Group

According to Park Jun-young, a researcher at LG Electronics’ Mobile Communication Research Lab, the company concluded that many customers are sick and tired of mechanical cell phone sounds and asked the a cappella group to produce something different. The Swedish group worked on the “enthusiastically” on the project, he said.

LG Electronics is also putting five works by the late American pop artist Keith Haring, including “Angel”, into flash files for use as cell phone wallpapers. The company paid US$150,000 to the Keith Haring Foundation in fees. But LG is not alone. Sharp employs a song by electronica musician Towa Tei as the ringtone for the N705i, a cell phone sold in Japan. Towa Tei is a third-generation Korean Japanese whose Korean name is Chung Dong-hwa. Nokia, meanwhile, adds to the global cross-fertilization by using a song by Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto for the N8800 and British rock musician Brian Eno for the N8800 Sirocco model.

Only Samsung Electronics, producer of the popular Anycall series of phones, sees no point in the endeavor. A Samsung spokesman said that his company is not considering working with famous musicians since ringtones by musicians who are too well known would make it difficult for the company to market its own brand image.

(englishnews@chosun.com )