Listeners will pay for digital music

A letter in today's San Jose Mercury News:

Listeners will pay for digital music

While I respect Mike Langberg's opinion (Dec. 10) about the digital music market, I disagree with his belief that paid content can't compete with free.

Video and audio are available at no cost through network television and FM/AM radio. But thriving and profitable cable networks and satellite radio companies show that fans are willing to pay for better, more comprehensive content.

Snocap believes that we are seeing just the tip of the iceberg in the digital music market, and that the possibilities for a new world of digital music distribution are endless. There will always be free content available to those who want to spend the time to find it, but there are many more people who want authorized access to a broad and competitive marketplace offering the largest possible catalog of music without the stigma and risk of using unauthorized file-sharing services.

Shawn Fanning,
Founder and chief strategy officer
Snocap
San Francisco

I'm with Fanning. Give the digital media marketplace a chance. So far, the entertainment companies' efforts have been woefully inadequate.