Whether it’s at the bank, a restaurant, a special event or even church, it’s not news that some cell phone usage is annoyingly inappropriate.

There’s nothing more irritating than being in a serene environment only to have the mood interrupted by a loud, random song.

But this column isn’t about cell phone usage; it’s about a new phenomenon in the cell phone industry.

Calling a friend the other day, I instantly heard a song and thought the call was going to voicemail, but then he answered – I must admit, it totally rocked my world.

The &#8220bbrriing! bbrriing!” sound callers normally hear when calling someone is being upgraded with ringbacks – a catchy song, quote or joke a caller hears while waiting for you to answer.

Ringbacks have opened up another profit margin for cell phone companies, according to Broadcast Music Inc., the organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and publishers with more than 6.5 million works.

But if you thought ringtones were annoying, ringbacks are a new reason to be miffed.

Believe it or not, ringtone sales are down as the popularity of ringbacks are expected to push $65 million in retail revenues this year, according to BMI.

BMI recently released its annual projection for U.S. ringtone sales, predicting that the 2007 music ringtone market will dip to $550 million in retail sales, a downturn of $50 million from last year.

&#8220As we forecasted last year, the ringtone market matured in 2006. The slowdown in ringtone growth, however, was partially offset by the first wave of promising U.S. growth in ringback tones,” said Richard Conlon, BMI’s vice president of new media and strategic development, earlier this year. &#8220We believe the ringtone market’s growth has leveled off and the novelty phase has ended. We envision increased revenue opportunity in the streaming sectors of the mobile entertainment market, ranging from ringtones to audiovisual cellular phone TV-style offerings.”

BMI’s estimates are based on more than 520 million individual, detailed ringtone transactions analyzed by the organization over the past 12 consecutive quarters.

Looking at BMI’s market projections, which began in 2001, it’s easy to see the overall market has grown astronomically as more cell phone users want a little more music to their ears.

BMI previously said the market for ringtones would peak at $600 million for 2006, $500 million for 2005, $245 million in 2004 and $68 million in 2003. Since 2001, BMI has tracked and processed more than 520 million individual ringtone sales by title, artist and gross retail revenues generated. BMI tracks census sales data on more than 325 outlets for the sale of mobile entertainment in the U.S.

– E-mail business reporter Ameerah Cetawayo at acetawayo@bgdailynews.com or call 783-3246.