Universal Music Chairman Lucian Grainge Skeptical Of SoundCloud Revenue Model

Universal Music Group Chairman Lucian Grainge expressed skepticism of SoundCloud's business model and the benefit of doing a deal right now with audio platform.  There is an “opportunity for SoundCloud to create incredible revenue,” said Grainge, but first he needs to discuss “what the business plan is going to be.” His remarks came on stage at the WSJD Live Global Technology Conference Tuesday.

Grainge was less critical of a rumored deal with Google's YouTube. “We’re very good partners with people where we’re aligned,” he said, according to the Wall Street Journal. (But) “I can’t comment on something that hasn’t been announced.”

In a separate appearance later at the same conference SoundCloud co-founder Alexander Ljung tried to downplay Grainge;s comments. “We won’t have everybody in from day one,” Ljung said. “Our intention is to create something that’s valuable for everybody and so valuable that everybody wants to be in. We’re not there yet.”