Glenn Peoples: The Freemium Debate

In response to an article in the Guardian on Clay Shirky and his opinion on news paywalls, Glenn Peoples  over at Billboard has written a great summary of how the music industy's digital dilemma relates to that of the newspaper industry's.  As well, he frames the discussion around the freemium debate:

“One of the big questions in digital music today is whether or not free, ad-supported versions of services should exist alongside paid, ad-free versions. In a freemium model, free users will outnumber paid users. That makes some people uncomfortable, and the freemium model is under attack as a result. On the other hand, a freemium model may result in greater sharing of music. Without a freemium model, far less sharing will take place if the discussion is limited only to paying users." -  Glenn Peoples