Griffin is attracting customers and fans with personalized ring tones. On his Web site YourNameRingtone, he has posted hundreds of ring tones based on a catchy tune with these lyrics: "Hey, [YOUR NAME HERE], your phone is ringin'; c'mon and answer it, see who it is."
Available names range from Aalyiah to Zane, and if viewers can't find their name on the site, they can request it. People like to hear their own names, so it's not surprising that the site has garnered nearly 500,000 downloads since its launch in March.
Griffin offers the downloads for free, reaping revenue from the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Adsense program instead. He's putting that money toward his next CD project, and "The goal is to use the name ring tones for a talking point when I go to radio stations to promote it."
Griffin doesn't mind if you make personalized ring tones with your own music. "I don't think it's a patentable idea," he says.
