Sam Oliver
Expanding on one of the most successful promotions in iTunes history, Beats cofounder Jimmy Iovine is reportedly negotiating with a number of artists to unveil upcoming albums exclusively on Beats Music, hoping to replicate the blockbuster launch of Beyoncé's eponymous LP on iTunes last year.
Though there is no word on which artists Iovine has approached, he remains one of the most powerful people in the music industry and has long-standing relationships with A-listers like Gwen Stefani and Kanye West. The talks were first noted by the New York Post.
Record labels — Â long wary of Apple's market dominance with iTunes — Â are said to be pushing back on these proposals, especially as the industry comes to grips with the new reality of subscription-based streaming services replacing album sales.
Working in Iovine's favor is the fact that the iTunes release of Beyonce's "visual album" in December 2013 was an unqualified success. It sold more than 800,000 copies in its first three days of availability, vaulting it to the No. 1 position on music charts in over 100 countries.
Apple is thought to be in the midst of rebuilding and rebranding Beats Music, and a series of major exclusive releases could serve to boost its eventual relaunch. The Post believes that the Dr. Dre-backed streaming service currently sits at approximately 300,000 subscribers, a potentially worrying number as the figure stood at 250,000 in May of this year.
Charles Martin
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71 Comments
I'm hard pressed to see the long term benefit to the Iovine relationship with Apple. The guy is a music industry shark who would be better off on his own packaging deals to offer to Apple (or other bidders, for that matter) and streaming subscriptions are still a very tough nut to crack... Perhaps something that can best be offered as an add-on to satellite radio services?
[quote name="SpamSandwich" url="/t/184082/jimmy-iovine-spearheading-talks-to-lock-up-exclusive-releases-for-apples-beats-music#post_2655594"]I'm hard pressed to see the long term benefit to the Iovine relationship with Apple. The guy is a music industry shark who would be better off on his own packaging deals to offer to Apple (or other bidders, for that matter) and streaming subscriptions are still a very tough nut to crack... Perhaps something that can best be offered as an add-on to satellite radio services?[/quote] I must admit I will be following along to see when the ROI occurs. Any guesses on if and when Apple may see that?
Exclusives are a bit of a D move. People should want to use your service because the GUI is more intuitive, or it has the best search function, or it always downloads quickly. Not because they have to, because you're the only one with the album, because you did some deal to stop anyone else getting it.
[quote name="digitalclips" url="/t/184082/jimmy-iovine-spearheading-talks-to-lock-up-exclusive-releases-for-apples-beats-music#post_2655598"] I must admit I will be following along to see when the ROI occurs. Any guesses on if and when Apple may see that?[/quote] As far as hardware goes, they'll see profitability fairly soon, I'm guessing. Beats Music subscriptions may never live up to potential. There are many, many options for consumers to consider and Beats Music is just another one.
[quote name="SpamSandwich" url="/t/184082/jimmy-iovine-spearheading-talks-to-lock-up-exclusive-releases-for-apples-beats-music#post_2655594"] . . . The guy is a music industry shark . . . [/quote] That's not obvious from anything I've seen, especially since he seems to be tight with the older guard, which does not suffer fools easily. (Shark = foolish predator.) Do you have a link or two to back that up?