Napster Founder’s Snocap Melts

The recent series of good news stories about musicians taking firmer control of their music’s distribution, and music minus DRM taking off in sales, has been good for the fan and good for the artists. For Snocap, not so much.

Though Fanning’s company offers a way for artists to sell music online, it appears not enough of them have taken up Snocap on its service. Valleywag picked up on rumors of layoffs at the company, and that it is now up for sale.

"This explains why we haven’t seen Mendelson at many parties lately," Valleywag said of Snocap’s other founder, Jordan Mendelson.

CNet later confirmed the layoffs of 60 percent of Snocap staff had taken place. And they won’t say no to a sale, either:

"Snocap has received interest from several companies and is pursuing that," said Susan Celia Swan, a company representative.

The problem with music sales is the paradigm shift taking place in the industry. A band can give away two or three MP3s, and support itself with touring and merchandise sales. They don’t need a Snocap to give away music.

Prince did well after handing out about 3 million CDs in England, selling out 21 shows and leaving music industry executives slack-jawed.