File this under “content wants to be free:” TechCrunch reports that Yahoo! is moving away from premium services.

Nothing will be shut down; however, people and money (marketing dollars) are moving to other areas of Yahoo. The company will focus on free content over premium services, which are not performing well (music subscription sales in particular are said to be lagging).

While I applauded NYT’s dismantling of TimesSelect as a paid service, I have thought some premium services make sense, such as WSJ.com and ConsumerReports.com. The nature of the businesses lent themselves to subscription models.

However, if Yahoo! can’t make a go of it selling music online and sees little future in paid content, you have to wonder if eventually free just wins completely.