As the old song goes, "you say realtone, I say truetone, let's call the whole thing off". Well, moves are afoot in the ring tone industry to better define what different terms mean, in order to avoid confusion.
Most of the confusion seems to surround the term 'realtone', which currently has two definitions. The first says a 'realtone' is a ringtone where you get a proper piece of music as your ringtone, rather than a monophonic or polyphonic recreation. The second definition goes further, and says that the 'realtone' is not just a proper piece of music, but an excerpt of an original recording from a named artist. The distinction is important for record labels, because if a phone company gets a session singer to re-record a track for the ringtone then they won't see any money (ie only the publisher of the track will have to be paid). Moreover, given that some 'realtones' are made from original recordings, and others aren't, it is arguably unfair on consumers who will often expect the former but get the latter. Are you keeping up with this?
Anyway, DX3 Technologies and the Mobile Entertainment Forum are lobbying for the word 'realtones' to only be used for the latter kind of ringtone. That is: "a ringtone that is licensed by the rights holder, produced from an original recording, with the performer clearly identified in its marketing material."
DX3 CEO Andy Baker explains: "The whole history of popular music has, of course, been littered with imitations, cover versions and tribute bands, but at least they have been marketed as such".
The record labels support the move, so now all Baker has to do is persuade all those dodgy ringtone companies to comply.