"We want to lower the prices to develop the market. Bt15 [per song] would be great," said Piyathat Sombatsiri, vice president of digital-content provider Siam2you Plc.

Speaking at the "MobileMonday" industry networking forum on Monday, Piyathat blamed the high price on the hefty charges levied by network operators and music labels.

He said half of the levy - Bt20 per song - goes to mobile operators and another Bt8-Bt9 goes to the music companies and artists. When he subtracts the cost of advertising his service there is not much left, he said.

"All we do right now is just try to survive," said Piyathat whose company showed a net loss of Bt4.4 million on total revenue of Bt28 million in the first quarter.

During the discussion on music downloads, an executive at mobile operator True Move, Punnamas Vichitkulwongsa, took the side of consumers. When they buy a CD they can do what they want with it, including sharing it with their friends, Punnamas said. But they cannot use it on their mobile phones unless they pay Bt40 for each song. And if they want a ringtone of the same song they have to pay another Bt30, he said.

"It has to be fair. Consumers should be able to benefit from what they deserve. If there is fairness, [mobile music companies] will see money circulating," he said.

Punnamas said network operators have increased their portion of revenue sharing to 50 per cent on digital music downloads because they have to pay one-quarter of sales revenue to state telecom firms such as TOT Plc and CAT Telecom.

But the discussion's moderator, Oh Thongsrinoon, whose firm Popidols also sells digital content, was not satisfied with Punnamas's explanation.

"In Japan, the revenue sharing rate is 15 per cent, In Korea, it's 25 per cent," he said.

Vorapoj Nimvijit, new media director of RS Plc, Thailand's second-largest music company, agreed that the 50-per-cent rate was unfair.

But RS could find a way round the high levy by shifting its distribution channel to wireless application protocol (WAP) portal sites, whose operators charge a lower fee, he said. More than 70 per cent of RS's digital music income comes through WAP.

"We can charge a very cheap rate of Bt15 for a full song on the WAP sites," said Vorapoj.

Punnamas said if the price of a CD served as the benchmark, the appropriate price for a digital music track should be Bt10-Bt15.

Oh said RS had shown it could sell songs at Bt15 per track through direct sales.

Piyathat said Siam2you was offering content on broadband. "We're moving away from mobile phones," he said.

Pichaya Changsorn

 The Nation