Fresh off its near-$4 billion valuation, Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann took to the stage for a rare appearance at a Fast Company to talk about the company's expansion plans. High on the list: ditching its reputation as a ladies club and making itself more attractive to men. Silbermann said the company, which has less than 200 employees, plans to make a big push into new markets overseas in the coming months—14 new markets by year-end—as well as attract more male users, according to a recap in Women's Wear Daily. Meanwhile, in another sign that journalism is dead and all those in it should run for the exits, Pinterest confirmed this week that San Francisco Chronicle president Joanne Bradford will step down at the end of the month to join Pinterest as head of partnerships. At least the SF Chronicle got the scoop and not Business Insider or BuzzFeed.  Spotify versus the old men of rock: Part 17  Plenty of rock music's elder statesmen have voiced strong opinions—both for and against—Spotify as an artist-friendly innovation. Next up: British folker Billy Bragg, long known for his love of old socialist folk icons like Woody Guthrie and one of the few British rockers who could conceivably bring a Catskills socialist summer camp of the 1930s to its feet. So this should be a nuanced view of Spotify. Bragg said, Blame "the man?" Referring to the record labels, as Bragg explained in a Facebook post.  "I've long felt that artists railing against Spotify is about as helpful to their cause as campaigning against the Sony Walkman would have been in the early 80s. Music fans are increasingly streaming their music and, as artists, we have to adapt ourselves to their behaviour ... artists have identified that the problem lies with the major record labels rather [than] the streaming service."  Actually, that stream of consciousness rant from "the socialist" sounds pretty reasonable.  ( Read more: The day when Google dominates education ... is already here)  If you don't buy Bragg's rant, blame the Silicon Valley companies that keep throwing money at Spotify. It was reported by Sky News this past week that Technology Crossover Ventures, a California-based firm that includes Facebook and Groupon among its investments, was leading a $200 million round for Spotify.  Or blame Deezer, the streaming music service that reported it has doubled its paying subscribers to 5 million, closing in on Spotify, according to a report in The Guardian.
It won't be long before the New York Times best-seller list includes books on how to make millions from sharing economy companies like Airbnb.