My Phone's Not Set To Silent, It's Set To Art
from the pretentious dept
If you weren't already tired of ringtones, this might push you over the edge: an artist has created a ringtone containing four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence to give people a "respite" or serve some other sufficiently artsy purpose. What the guy's really done is rip-off John Cage's 1952 song 4'33", which contained -- yes, you guessed it -- four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. The ringtone artist prefers to use the terms "revisit," "remix" and "remaster", asserting that his digitally produced silence is better than Cage's analog version. Apart from fulfilling the usual stereotypes about conceptual artists, the guy's also inviting a lawsuit, since Cage's publishers tend to think they own the idea of silent songs. Perhaps the real irony here is that the artist doesn't even own a cell phone. If he did, maybe he'd realize that they all pretty much feature a silent mode these days.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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silent ringtone
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No...
It's set to pretentious and self-indulging.
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I'd love to see that conflict go to court. Cage "recorded" 433 on tape and released it on vinyl. That means the "mechanical" would in fact be noise. The remixers assertion would indeed hold up to spectrographic analysis (admissable in music disputes). Not only is it a different product, it is also a "better" version.
Then to add insanity to absurdity, I'd like to see them thrash it out over the score.
Hear that second refrain your honour? Where the unpiano completely fails to harmonise with the total lack of strings? I wrote that bit. Er, I mean I didn't write it... no wait a minute..
Please, please, please let them sue, we need more entertainment of this kind.
btw, Alex, what do you think of this modern interpretation of a classic concept?
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Silence
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Not a ringtone....
Maybe by "ringtone" this guy means "completely made up"
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Free
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MOO
ok now that ive said that
its just a way to revamp the system -- let ppl take a step back and say -- cool
im sure this artist did 50 other ringtones all notable for being actual art...
oh, btw
moo.
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oh my
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Ringtones are rude
Never would I have predicted that companies would make millions of dollars by enabling people to more easilly annoy their fellow humans. If you want to express yourself, wear a funny t-shirt, color your hair purple, or pierce something. At least those don't assault our ears. Oh, and get the hell off my lawn!
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cool!
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Haven't anyone got a sense of humor?
(Denmark)
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Out of curiosity...
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Perfect
They could all sit on the bus in silence and stop annoying the rest of us with the "tss tss tss" of second-hand earphone noise
ahhh ;0)
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Finally
of course, I'm partial to the piece, as (in college, of course) I conducted a performance of 4'33" arranged for Microwave Oven. The hum and beep were a bit of a departure from the original, but I think Cage's intent was still served: how often do you as an individual listener simply sit and listen for four and a half minutes? This becomes even more fascinating when you get a large audience together and get them to sit in "silence" for a few minutes. anyway, it's lazy to dismiss this as a piece of conceptual art "junk" in a world where silence is at such a premium.
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Personally, I prefer my own 30 and 60 minutes of silence, followed by an alarm.
I made them using a wav editor on my PC then attached the alarm. It keeps me from dozing off at work for too long...
EtG
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todd & eric got it right
when cage first introduced this piece to the public, it was about hearing the lady in the 3rd row cough, the guy next to you sniffle, and everyone else get more & more uncomfortable because THEY were now making the soundtrack to the musicians on stage resting. brilliant. the vinyl version was never as good as the live, for the reasons dicussed above - the mechanical hum and clicks of blank phonograh tracks just tells me it's time to flip the disc.
but if i put a 'ringtone' on my phone, it's so that i know when someone is trying to contact me. someone across the conference table is always sniffling or coughing, and if i checked my phone every time, my brain would explode. i can't wait to hear more about this lawsuit.
i can't wait until the next revolution when we kill all the lawyers...
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WTF
What the hell?
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a friend of mine once wrote "music is composed of sound and silence." i believe him. this ringtone is not music, or even art. i agree that it's a gimmick used to make a point. i dislike things of that nature.
i do however remember hearing about the john cage piece for the first time. i vividly imagined what it would have been like to be there as he composed the silence and the audience composed the sound. people rustling their programs, coughing, scratching an itch, whispering to their company about when the piece is going to start. all the while, he is sitting at the piano poised to begin playing. it would have been like the movie theater before the previews, except more hushed, expectant, and intense. i think i would have enjoyed it.
and btw, i didn't need drugs to use my imagination.
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Re: Perfect
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Both "composers" should be slapped repeatedly for this garbage, anyway...
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James Touchi-Peters
Conductor Emeritus
Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra, Minneapolis
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"silent mode" might not be
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humanity fails
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Re: James Touchi-Peters
Cage's idea was that the ambient sound in the room would cause the piano's strings to subtly and indiscriminantly vibrate. So ultimately, the ringtone actually has nothing to do with Cage's composition at all.
and your source? there are plenty of quotes and documented occasions that lead to the inspiration of this piece, however to proclaim what you do is bordering absurdity. also, have you seen the score? it consists of nothing but I, II, III (indicating the movement) and the word "Tacet" (indicating silence)... there's no pedal indications whether by word or marking.
http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_inside.html?cart=337716820012785999&item=100 8430&page=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:433score.jpg
so, i'm curious, where do you get the idea that there is instructions for pedal use when there is clearly none?
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Re: Ringtones are rude
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Re: Perfect
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Re: Re: Perfect
hahaha
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Eh, supposed to be funny, no?
We shouldn't miss the point -- yes, it does involve a cell phone 'ring tone,' but this would be more about everything outside the cell phone (assuming this truly is an homage) when the cell phone is silent. Etcetera -- more has been pointed out by some of the people who obviously get it [kossori hana, Tomas, Bench, etc.] ; a lot of the rest of the folks need to get a sense of humor and proportion. Take a minute, take a breath, and try to hold your fire for something worthwhile. Politics, the environment, RIAA, MS Vista? Some of you act like the guy has proposed that we we replace our kitchens with magic dogshit fountains that mail money to undeserving artists.
That being said, I just looked at the artist's site. Yeah, maybe a bit pretentious.
And, the Cage publishers suing the guy over the silent track is patently ridiculous. Really.
Cage, on the other hand, and 4'33", I like. Maybe see (because I am too lazy) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cage
Again, nothing terribly original here, but nothing worthy of anger either, I don't think.
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Eh, supposed to be funny, no?
We shouldn't miss the point -- yes, it does involve a cell phone 'ring tone,' but this would be more about everything outside the cell phone (assuming this truly is an homage) when the cell phone is silent. Etcetera -- more has been pointed out by some of the people who obviously get it [kossori hana, Tomas, Bench, etc.] ; a lot of the rest of the folks need to get a sense of humor and proportion. Take a minute, take a breath, and try to hold your fire for something worthwhile. Politics, the environment, RIAA, MS Vista? Some of you act like the guy has proposed that we we replace our kitchens with magic dogshit fountains that mail money to undeserving artists.
That being said, I just looked at the artist's site. Yeah, maybe a bit pretentious.
And, the Cage publishers suing the guy over the silent track is patently ridiculous. Really.
Cage, on the other hand, and 4'33", I like. Maybe see (because I am too lazy) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cage
Again, nothing terribly original here, but nothing worthy of anger either, I don't think.
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Re: Ringtones are rude
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I sincerely hope I heard wrong, otherwise, the poster here at techdirt will look quite the fool.
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thats it, theres not much else to it
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Re: humanity fails
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Re: Out of curiosity...
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clever? or literal? OP seems to have missed the
http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2007/01/post.html
this is some funny stuff!
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For those of you who missed the point....
perhaps this will clarify.
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