Bob Lefsetz thinks Apple needs to can Jimmy Iovine

[Rogifan]

Can't say I disagree with anything in this post but Apple paid $3B for the guy, he's not going anywhere. According to John Gruber the Beats deal was all Eddy Cue. So my question is, what made Eddy Cue think Jimmy Iovine and the Beats team would be a good fit at Apple and would be able to deliver a superior streaming music experience? It's not like Beats Music had a huge subscriber base or some superior technology. And Apple certainly didn't/doesn't need Beats headphones. And now you have Zane Lowe saying he's not sure Apple Music even needs a live radio component.

More and more it just seems like a waste of $3B. $3B that Apple could have spent buying up smaller pieces of technology to build into a superior service or could have used to blow up the bloated mess that is iTunes and build something much better rather than just bolting on Apple Music and creating even more bloat. I really do question Eddy's judgement here and wonder if there was anyone inside Apple arguing against this or that had reservations or was Eddy able to do a snow job on the rest of the executive team like Jimmy Iovine did on him.

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2015/10/01/jimmy-iovine-2/

And I don’t know exactly who to blame for the writing of the abomination known as the Apple Music app. But one thing’s for sure, Jimmy Iovine is lost at Apple. He’s not even as good as Guy Kawasaki, the famous evangelist. At least Guy could talk.

Jimmy can’t code.

He can’t present.

And his vision is not in tech.

First we had the U2 disaster. ANYBODY who surfs the web and utilizes devices could see this coming. Why couldn’t Jimmy?

Because he’s an insider in an outside world. Music is all about manipulation, shaving edges the public can’t see. Like placement and position, muscling gatekeepers for exposure. The public has no idea how the sausage is made.

But tech is transparent. 1’s and 0’s. And it’s driven by consumers. With everything available online, with comparison shopping easily done, with reviews at your fingertips, it’s hard to pull the wool over people’s eyes. There used to be regional hits in the record business, those went away with the internet, we all live in the same world now, and there are a few winners and a bunch of losers and you win via excellence.

Apple Music is not excellent.

 

[navaira]

Thanks @Rogifan, I dislocated my neck from nodding too vigorously 😉

Do you have a link to Lowe saying Apple might not need live radio? I'd love to read that. (If my neck can take more.)

 

[whsbuss]

Apple needs to re-boot the Beats audio line of products - or call them something totally different. They are just grabbing whatever they can from the buyout.

 

[Rogifan]

Thanks @Rogifan, I dislocated my neck from nodding too vigorously 😉

Do you have a link to Lowe saying Apple might not need live radio? I'd love to read that. (If my neck can take more.)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...-not-sure-that-Apple-Music-needs-Beats-1.html

 

[Rogifan]

Apple needs to re-boot the Beats audio line of products - or call them something totally different. They are just grabbing whatever they can from the buyout.

I'd rather they spin it off. They'll never call it something else because the Beats name/brand is what's valuable. But Apple doesn't need it. And honestly they don't need Iovine, Dre or Trent Reznor either. Just write it off as a bad investment. They're not the first and certainly won't be the last company to make a bad bet.