Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:
SoundCloud CEO on labels, varied business models: Billboard interviewed SoundCloud cofounder and CEO Alexander Ljung about the recent business developments at the online audio platform. SoundCloud has been the target of many critiques by major labels, but Ljung said that overall the company’s efforts to work with labels have been positive. He also advocated finding a balance between freemium and paid business models. “Music is important for almost everyone on the planet, meaning there are potentially billions of customers…if you want to monetize billions of people, you need both ad-supported and subscription [models] to work,” he said.
Apple Music is tops down under: Apple Music is currently the top streaming service in Australia and New Zealand. According to a new report from Canadian firm Sandvine, Apple has edged out Spotify in those markets. It acknowledged that the rankings could shuffle again after Apple’s free trial period ends.
How Pandora’s CTO works: Lifehacker’s How I Work feature regularly features interesting and/or high-profile individuals and shares insights about the tools they use in their personal and professional lives. The series recently focused on Chris Martin, the chief technology office for Pandora. It’s a cool look behind-the-scenes.