Tossing their tunes in the ring

A lot of hit songs have been turned into cellphone ring tones in recent months, helping to make that market the fastest-growing realm of the music business. But could a ring tone become a hit song?

The idea intrigues hip-hop artist and producer Lil Jon, who has seen several of his songs become top-selling ring tones in truncated form.

“I could make a song for a cellphone that could go on the music charts,” he says. “That would be amazing.”

But that’s just a bonus potential for Lil Jon -- the king of the subgenre known as crunk -- in a new deal he’s signed with BlingTones, a New York City company that bills itself as the only wireless service dedicated to producing and distributing original music for cellphones.

Rather than just offering versions of existing songs, Lil Jon will be crafting music exclusively for use as ring tones -- expected to sell for $2 to $3 each -- as well as offering voice and visual elements available for people on their phones and wireless devices.

Soon you’ll be able to get Lil Jon’s signature crunk calls to shout out when you get crank calls.

“People like the ‘Yeahs’ and ‘OKs,’ ” he says. “Gonna do different things, crazy voice tones, brand new songs.”

“We look at the phone as a totally new format,” says Jonathan Dworkin, vice president of artists and repertoire for BlingTones, which also has Q-Tip, D12’s Denaun Porter and a few other producers on its roster.

“Record companies are A&R;, marketing, distribution and promotion,” says Dworkin, who himself has a management background. “We can A&R;, have the ability to market as well as anyone and, with distribution, down the road we have the potential to be in 170 million pockets. So in my mind we’re one hit away from being a major label.”

BlingTones isn’t alone in this new frontier. Other new companies are also signing artists to create exclusive ring content; a company called Zingy has deals with 50 Cent and others, while producer Timbaland is working with MTV.

And the talk is big all around, though reminiscent of the talk in the late ‘90s about Internet-only record labels -- an idea that pretty much fizzled when the dot-com boom turned bust.

Peter Gaston, mobile editor for sister pop-culture magazines Spin and Vibe, is a little dubious of the claims, though bullish on the ring tone market on the whole. “The mobile world is definitely the next frontier,” he says. “The next two or three years will see integration of MP3 into mobile phones.”

Lil Jon definitely sees this as a chance to get his foot in an opening door, both business-wise and creativity-wise.

“It’s definitely new and innovative to make music strictly for your cellphone,” he says. “I can make songs about my momma calling, my girlfriend, ‘I don’t want to answer the phone,’ so many different things, so many different levels.... For me to do exclusive new stuff for the phone will be crazy.”