Roger Fingas
One of the core Beats executives Apple acquired in its 2014 $3 billion takeover, Ian Rogers, has already left the company to pursue other ventures outside of the music streaming business, a report revealed on Friday.
Apple has confirmed the departure but declined to comment any further, the Financial Times said. Anonymous sources told the publication that Rogers is leaving California to work for a Europe-based company in a separate industry.
Rogers' move comes just two months after the launch of Beats 1 radio, a project he spearheaded the development of. This reportedly included the hiring of former BBC Radio DJ Zane Lowe, and the genesis of the station's show lineup. Officially Rogers was a part of the Apple Music team.
Work colleagues were surprised by the news, the Times claimed. Prior to joining Apple in August 2014, Rogers was the CEO of Beats Music, the on-demand streaming service used as the foundation for Apple Music.
It's not clear whether Rogers was unhappy with his tenure at Apple or if he simply wanted to seize on a new opportunity. Also unknown is who, if anyone, his replacement might be.
Both Apple Music and Beats 1 are considered key to the company's digital services business, as music download sales are continuing to decline with the growing popularity of streaming. A critical milestone is coming at the end of September, as Apple Music subscribers will exit a trial period and have to decide if the service is worth paying for.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
72 Comments
Another sign of Apple's impending doom. /s Interesting to see who is replacing him.
Why is this a surprise? The odds are excellent that with Apple acquiring Beats there would be some overlap of staff/executives, and that some people would be leaving.
Just another non-story people will try to spin as a negative to show there's internal strife at Apple and employees are unhappy.
[quote name="EricTheHalfBee" url="/t/187912/apple-music-director-ian-rogers-makes-surprise-departure-for-new-job#post_2767101"]Why is this a surprise? The odds are excellent that with Apple acquiring Beats there would be some overlap of staff/executives, and that some people would be leaving. Just another non-story people will try to spin as a negative to show there's internal strife at Apple and employees are unhappy. [/quote] 9to5Mac previously reported issues with the Beats integration and people leaving. I guess not a surprise when integrating companies. My guess is Rogers knew he had no chance of being top dog like he was at Beats so he decided to move on.
I still haven't signed up for Apple Music. Not because I don't think it'd be cool. But I feel like I need an opportunity in my life for some downtime when I can spend the three month trial really digging in and using it a lot. If I start the trial now, and I'm too busy, the trial will slip by and I won't have had a chance to really try it all out.
My other concern is that I'm an iTunes Match subscriber. And I _LOVE_ iTunes Match. I'm a bit worried that signing up for Apple Music might pooch my iTunes Matched library. Have these issues been resolved yet?
Probably because Beats music was better than Apple Music. I've used both. Or could be because he sees the poor performance of Apple Music and doesn't want to take the blame for a product that was out of his control. Hope it's not the latter.