Friday Fun: Interview with Thom

Another Friday, another edition of Friday Fun! This week, meet Thom Cummings, SoundCloud’s Product Marketing Manager. Thom is responsible for conducting market research, decoding user insight, and competitor analysis. Check him out in action doing his thing:

Hi Thom! Tell us how you ended up here at the ‘Cloud.

I’m British, but I was studying in Barcelona before SoundCloud. During my final year, I wrote a list of awesome companies that I really wanted to work for. Given that I love music, the interwebs, and startups, SoundCloud was pretty high up that list. Luckily for me, they had a job posting on the site that nicely matched my background in analytics, marketing, and strategy – so I applied and thankfully everything worked out so here I am!

We’re curious – what kind of British accent do you have?

I think it’s pretty nondescript actually. It’s all relative, though I sound exceedingly British when I attempt to speak Spanish or German.

What food do you miss most from England? What’s your favorite restaurant in Berlin?

I’ve already imported my own Marmite and found somewhere here to buy Heinz Baked Beans so I guess the missing piece of the puzzle is Indian food. I’ve tried a few places here but they just don’t match up to London. My current addiction here in Berlin is definitely the burritos from Dolores in Mitte.

What kind of music are you into?

Tough question… mostly indie, folk and electronic. That’s pretty vague I know. I have a 3-Stephens goal for SoundCloud – Merritt, Morrissey and Malkmus. Once that happens I can go home. As for favourites, two of the albums I’ve most obsessed over this year are Owen Pallett’s Heartland and Caribou’s Swim – both amazing and inventive records. Check them out on SC:

Owen Pallett: “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt”

Caribou: “Odessa”

Are you a musician yourself?

Sort of… I have a bunch of guitars of varying sizes, my favourite of which is definitely my ukulele. Over the years I’ve been in several “bands” that have had fewer practice sessions than they did band naming meetings. I guess my dreams of rock stardom are over but on the other hand, I now have a great list of band names that I will sell for millions one day.

Favorite part about working here?

Well, everyone who’s answered this question so far has said the people. And that’s absolutely true… but to throw something new into the mix I’d have to say the mission. The music industry’s pretty messed up, we all know that, so I think what we’re working on at SoundCloud is not only very cool and very useful but also fundamentally important for music and for the web. Also, the logo gives my wife a great excuse to bake cloud-shaped things. See:

And finally, who is the ping-pong master of SoundCloud?

Eric and David seem to have a fairly epic rivalry. But I’m going to throw my cards on the table and say that the crown of SC ping-pong master will soon be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

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Thanks, Thom! But do you hear that Eric and David? The ping-pong stakes are getting higher everyday. Stay tuned…