A few days ago, Google’s Eric Schmidt spoke publicly denounced Apple Music’s decision to focus on DJs and curated content as “10 years out of date.” As a counterpoint, Mixcloud’s co-founder Nico Perez emphasized the value of taste-makers, and human selection in the success of his content-sharing site. When asked about the subject his reply was:

“We firmly believe in the value of human curation — meaning human DJs — at the end of the day. With Apple coming out with Apple Music and Beats 1 being front and center, we’ve definitely seen a whole lot of more interest in what we are doing, whether it be potential business partners, DJs themselves, or journalists taking an interest us. I think that’s a really good thing because it’s highlighting the importance of what a human may be really good at. Not to knock the Pandoras of this world too harshly, but humans are actually incredibly good at finding great new music and bringing that to other humans. I think the value of the DJ and what they can bring to the listening experience — above and beyond the blending tracks and making a seamless music experience — is bringing to the forefront new artists and music makers that perhaps you’ve never heard of. From our point of view, now is a time when we’re seeing that spotlight shone on curation. People have asked us about how we are competing with Apple, the biggest company in the world. It’s kind of true, we do in some sense, but I think in another sense, we’re a platform, and they are a single radio station that broadcasts one stream 24/7. At the end of the day, the idea of the human DJ, the human curator is something that is really validated by them entering the market.”

Full interview available on Medium.