There were several quality panels offered on the second day of the music component of SXSW 2012, but the most interesting was “Social Music Strategies: Viral & the Power of Free.”

The power-house cast of panelists included: moderator Eliot Van Buskirk, Editor @ The Echo Nest/Evolver.fm; Ime Archibong, Strategic Partner Mgr @ Facebook; David Hyman, CEO @ MOG; Rachna Bhasin, Sr Vice President, Business Development @ Sirius XM Radio; and Billy Chasen, Founder & CEO @ turntable.fm.

The highlight of the event was David Hyman’s mention of MOG’s intention to offer a free tier on their mobile platform:

“We don’t have a free tier yet on mobile – our freemium and our free play is on web, but we hope that will change soon… to [offer] a free mobile component”

This is very exciting news for users of the MOG music service, which has experienced breakneck growth – the fastest among Facebook’s on-demand music apps – since it enabled Facebook integration late last year.