Report Claims Beats Acquisition to Bring "Culturally Aware" Managers to Apple, Manage Subscription Music Transition

[buzzardo]

How are the two comparable friend?

I never said adding a pop personality would be beneficial to Apple. I've never implied that notion either. Apple IS arguably the leading technology company in Pop Culture today (they don't need anyONE to help with that). So that fact alone kills your logic.

However, I'll play along.


You want to know why they wouldn't give the job to her, because she doesn't have ANYTHING that would make Apple more profitable.

Jimmy Iovine, for the most part, is bringing contracts and a subscription service that Apple no longer has to build from the ground up. That alone is enough, but they will also get a nice portable headphone product too. That's why this deal is happening. Mr. Iovine has a lot of connections in the music industry (nice perk for Apple here). He also owns a record label with artist that range from The All-American Rejects to Kendrick Lamar. From Eninem to Lady Gaga. Zedd to U2 etc. This isn't about Jimmy or Dre but about the brand and the connects these guys will bring.

Lol Kim Kardashian. What exactly is she famous for again? At least you can research Jimmy and find out what he's done and who's careers he has at the palm of his hands.

Well, at least you did not disagree that the products he makes are junk.

 

[I WAS the one]

Please God no...

 

[JoshAlfie]

Please God no...

Overreaction much?

 

[panther quest]

Steve Jobs would never..... oh wait

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a one off licensing deal with a band is distinctly different from buying a company and making them executives.

 

[jonnyb098]

Beats headphones are not cheap therefore the brand appeals to people with money. People with money are not trash. So how can you say Beats is trash even if you may not like the sound quality?

Hip hop is not a "trashy ghetto scene". There are many brilliant poets in hip hop. Your comments are so full of ignorance and arrogance (the worst combination) that they are frustrating and offensive.

Who are you to say what's trash and what's not? Please do us (and everyone else who shares your naive and spiteful opinion) all a favour and get off of your high horse.

You're both wrong. It caters to the total douche bag scene.

 

[maxwelltech]

Dr. Dre as a manager? Couldn't even imagine that in my head Seriously though, if Apple becomes just like Beats with these overpriced fashion accessories, I will be done with Apple. There is no company that is "too big for failures", just look at Nokia as an example. Their cult alone will not save them.

 

[jonnyb098]

If this was Samsung instead of Apple people would be (rightly so) laughing their arses off. Pretty sad and pathetic that Apple thinks they need to buy cool. And what is this culturally aware nonsense? Make a great product and people will buy it. Don't pander to specific races/demographics.

If Apple really wanted to pander to certain races there would be a hell of a lot more Apple stores in Detroit not 20-40 miles outside the city where people with money to spend actually live.

 

[JoeG4]

I do find the sentiment shown in a lot of posts on this topic pretty unnerving, to me it seems a lot of people here have problems not with the Beats brand itself, or the headphones, but the people that often buy the headphones. I've seen comments about trash and the urban crowd, and bad taste, and things like a keyboard modified to look like a gang shirt. Funny, I've only ever seen Beats products packaged almost exactly as Apple packages their products. Their design language and branding is actually very Apple-esque.

Edit:

It was the Apple culture that built Beats, in a way Beats has always been a part of Apple.

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Yep most people on this forum do not have a clue the designer of the beats headphones was the one who hired Jony Ive.

I knew it! lol I've been thinking Beats' products looked very much like they could be made by Apple.

 

[grumple]

Jeez, Don Sterling claims he is not a racist. That doesn't make him not one... just like a lot of people here.

 

[Amnak]

Why does Apple even need to go after the headphone market? It's saturated. On the high end you have Sennheiser, Grado, Audeze and a couple of others that make the seriously nice products that cater to the serious listeners.

I see Beats as a fad more than the norm. Bose used to be a big name in the audio industry, but they have lost a lot of their cache in the audio for the masses.

The problem with the masses is that they don't know how to judge good audio. Example is your typical rap/hip hop album doesn't even use REAL musical instruments, it's all pretty much artificial noises. I feel sorry for these kids in a way because they are looking up to rappers like they have something valuable to offer, when all they do is promote illiteracy in both general education and music and the rest of the garbage they stand for.

The kids need to grow up listening to the master musicians of the world instead of buying into the current pop culture. It's gone so downhill compared to 30 or 40 years ago. These new acts aren't producing any "classic/timeless" music. What a shame.

Actually some hip hop songs and artist do use real instruments although many do not. Although I can't say that anyone will inovate a genre arguably music isn't hopeless the first 2 number one piano ballads where written in the last two years "when I was your man" by Burno Mars and " All of Me" by John Legend. I'm 23 but I listen to a wide variety of music from The Wonders, Aretha Franklin, to artist from the 60s people my age wouldn't even know about. To each there own but you can't say music has gone down hill just that people must seek what they want to hear.

 

[morphineseason]

a one off licensing deal with a band is distinctly different from buying a company and making them executives.

True, but back then the iPod brand was thriving, and streaming services weren't a big deal.

 

[lk400]

Don't throw race into this.

You were the one who randomly brought up race. You make statements like.

Ok I think just about vomited my dinner. So basically Apple is turning into a fashion company and using Beats to try and inject "cool" into the company, while also pandering to African-Americans and teenagers. #vomit

and

If this was Samsung instead of Apple people would be (rightly so) laughing their arses off. Pretty sad and pathetic that Apple thinks they need to buy cool. And what is this culturally aware nonsense? Make a great product and people will buy it. Don't pander to specific races/demographics.

Then when someone calls you on it, you accuse them of playing a race card?

 

[Ozid]

Theres so much speculation of the "whys" of this acquisition. I believe that Jimmy Iovine would be huge for cutting deals within the entertainment industry. Despite the quality of the products, Beats sell and make a crap load of money. Their streaming service is actually pretty great, but without a legitimate free option, it won't gain any traction.

Ok so that leaves us with:

- Two very significant executives that have nearly limitless connections in the entertainment industry, a place Apple desperately wants to make deals.

- A very profitable headphone brand that made over (an estimated) $1 Billion in revenue in 2013. The quality of these is suspect, but also something that can be very easily improved. Even without improvements, the brand could remain independent and just milk profits until the fad fades away. Side note: The Beats Pill sounds amazing for its price and size.

- A streaming service that *might* carry its licensing deals with it. Either way, its a great piece of software with a really interesting way of discovering music that can be improved upon in several ways.

IMO... it might not be the best *fit* but its nothing that can't be fixed (aside from the personnel). But I think the price is justified. Most of you are being too harsh and some of you just flat out offensive. Calm down, folks.

 

[smoledman]

They are reinventing themselves.

In a very horrible way. This will NOT end well for Apple.

 

[lk400]

Steve Jobs would never..... oh wait

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Greatest reply in this thread. Thank you.

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Beats headphones are not cheap therefore the brand appeals to people with money. People with money are not trash. So how can you say Beats is trash even if you may not like the sound quality?

Hip hop is not a "trashy ghetto scene". There are many brilliant poets in hip hop. Your comments are so full of ignorance and arrogance (the worst combination) that they are frustrating and offensive.

Who are you to say what's trash and what's not? Please do us (and everyone else who shares your naive and spiteful opinion) all a favour and get off of your high horse.

Ill take this further. I dont think its right to ever call another human being "trash", just because they had different opportunities, suffered harship, didnt get as good an education, born in the wrong place, wrong time, or whatever the reason. It is an affront to basic human decency to label another as trash. Money does not come into it. There are plenty of rich people who do very bad things to others, and plenty of poor who would give their last penny to help someone out.

The prejudice and idiocy in this thread make me want to stop reading this forum.

 

[PatriotInvasion]

Where to begin. It's amazing to me how Apple can be rumored to be acquiring a company that went from $0 in revenue to $1B in revenue in just 6 years can be considered the dumbest move on the planet.

Apple and its products have a long history being tied to music and buying a company that already has a beautifully designed streaming service with contracts in place, a billion dollar accessory business that is already sold in Apple Stores worldwide, and 2 music industry executives who have respect and credibility among the people they'd be doing business with makes sense to me. Apple has been starving for an infusion of charisma since Steve passed away and if Jimmy Iovine and Dre can provide a little of that on the music side and help transition Apple from the iTunes era to the cloud streaming era than so be it.

The only thing that seems to be motivating the hate is this swell of anti-hip hop culture that is being served on these forums as a guise for racism because Beats has a strong brand affinity in the hip-hop/black athlete community. It's 2014 people, and Beats is more than just rap music. Let's let this thing play out before you start spewing your hatred. There are people at Apple who are way smarter than you making these decisions. If you knew all, you'd be making millions and not commenting on a geeky Mac message board with the rest of us.

 

[flatfoot99]

I do find the sentiment shown in a lot of posts on this topic pretty unnerving, to me it seems a lot of people here have problems not with the Beats brand itself, or the headphones, but the people that often buy the headphones. I've seen comments about trash and the urban crowd, and bad taste, and things like a keyboard modified to look like a gang shirt. Funny, I've only ever seen Beats products packaged almost exactly as Apple packages their products. Their design language and branding is actually very Apple-esque.

Problem? Really? Grow the heck up. Stop being so xenophobic and intolerable of what other people do.

If you're so dang worried about who buys the same stuff as you maybe you should all get together and make a company that leases out your elite brand of electronics to qualified customers only. Maybe buy a Virtu cellphone - those are pretty expensive. You might find a rich drug dealer with one though...

Apple doesn't release videos of it executives drinking, cursing, bragging about their money (despite being wrong on how much he gets) and then break into a little dance. Im also pretty sure it was a gang thing about the east coast, west coast feuding nonsense jab. Not against blacks, just against a subculture that I don't and will not be a part of. Ironically a subculture destroying a large portion of our african american communities. Very poetic indeed! (as someone else put it)

 

[DavidG328]

It was the Apple culture that built Beats, in a way Beats has always been a part of Apple.

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Yep most people on this forum do not have a clue the designer of the beats headphones was the one who hired Jony Ive.

Bingo!!! I just don't get all the ignorant hate happening here.

 

[tosh.macin]

What does "culturally aware" have to do with products...

I don't think everyone listens to rap, do they? I do a little, but still, there are a lot of genres!

"Culturally aware" = black culture.

I see the progressives are taking control at apple.

Annnnd queue the idiots claiming I'm racist. That's fine, I know how it works. If you disagree with something "progressive" you are automatically a racist.

 

[AppleScruff1]

And people here are making fun of Microsoft for the Surface Pro 3.

 

[Dekema2]

"Culturally aware" = black culture.



I see the progressives are taking control at apple.

I still believe that a mixture of progressives and traditionalists are a good thing for a company. Who knows, these two might give Apple a much different perspective!

 

[DavidG328]

Culturally aware of the functionally and musically illiterate. I think Apple is making a big mistake dealing with these guys, especially Dr. Dre. Iovine i could tolerate in small doses but I couldn't tolerate Dr. Dre for more than 10 seconds. I think he's just someone that shouldn't be in the music industry. I don't have anything he's worked on and I don't plan on owning any of it.

Someone that shouldn't be in the music industry? Why?

 

[dannyyankou]

Everyone needs to calm down.

 

[rocknblogger]

Sickening and disgusting...

I've been a member since 2011 and I have never seen so much racism, hate and bigotry as I've seen the past couple of weeks regarding this Beats acquisition. It's downright sickening and I'm dismayed that Macrumors staff is allowing it to go on.

I don't know, maybe it's the way I was brought up and the friends I've had over the years, but rap and ghetto are not the first thing I think of when I hear Jimmy Iovine's name or Dr. Dre, they've been involved in music ranging from hip hop to rock and a lot in between. Both of them clearly have their fingers on the pulse of today's youth. And if you don't think that Apple needs to attract that demographic then you have no clue about big business.

While Apple still makes excellent products they're not as "cool" as they once were. By no means am I saying they're in any kind of trouble but they do need to think ahead. I'm sure everyone here (or most everyone) would agree with the statement that iPhones are better than Samsung's offerings, yet Samsung is the company that's looking cool these days. Why? One word...marketing. Apple has to step up their marketing game before they become irrelivent to the 30 and under group.

Before you all bash Iovine and Dre let's just see what happens over the next year or two. I believe Apple will still produce a class product as they have done for the past decade. I'm actually excited to see what this new Apple will give us in the not too distant future. I believe that Jimmy Iovine is exactly the kind if guy who will have no problem lighting a fire under Tim Cook's or Sir Jony Ive's ass. I think someone has to do it and this just might be what turns Apple back into the juggernaut they were just a few short years ago.

You may scoff all you want but Iovine might be the closest we come to having someone like Steve Jobs back at Apple. The guy has vision, guts and the balls to compete in big business. I can go on and on but I'm sure you all already get the idea.

But please stop with the bigotry and racism. It really is shameful.

 

[lobeyonekenobi]

Don't throw race into this.

Sorry but you brought race into this by saying "Apple pandering to African-Americans & Teenagers", anyway who said they were pandering to anyone, have they even mentioned if and why they might acquire Beats.

You might not agree to this but as someone has already pointed out all Apple's best ideas seem to be met with hostility then when product is released these same people say "What a great idea, I knew along" ie iPod, iPad etc.. also maybe there is some LOGICAL reason they might buy the brand, I find it hard to believe it would be because of their headphones.

Best wait to see what happens first before having an aneurysm