In some parts of the world, ringtone sales are actually declining, and some of the largest ringtone companies are refocusing their businesses on other ways to personalize cell phones, The New York Times reports.

The article gives three reasons for the unexpected decline, quoted below:

1) more mobile phones were being made with the ability to create or record their own tunes;

2) record labels promoted so-called master ringtones—excerpts from the original pop recordings—for about the same price as the knockoffs but with higher royalty fees.

3) Digital music stores like iTunes began packaging and selling ringtones alongside their 99-cent singles.

These reasons combined to cause customers to think twice before spending $3 to $4 per ringtone with some of the ringtone portals such as Jamba (known as Jamster in the U.S.), the one behind the wildly popular Crazy Frog melody.

Global market for cell phone ringtones is shrinking [NYT via CNET News]