Companies buying companies- everyone wants to make as much money as possible. Apple, a bajillion dollar company, has bought Beats. For $3 billion, that is. They seem to be trading off money, and power- Beats co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine joining Apple in executive positions. The purchase includes both the Beats Electronics company—headphones, speakers, hardware—and Beats Music, subscription streaming service.
In an interesting turn of events, John Janick, founder of Fueled By Ramen, will replace Iovine as chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M, the Universal Music Group umbrella. The new CEO of Apple stated, “Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple. That’s why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.”
Iovine then said, “I’ve always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple. The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple’s unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple’s deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special.”
I’m not sure how this will effect current Apple consumers who want nothing to do with Beats (me), but I hope it doesn’t force me to subscribe or sign up for anything I don’t want. With an iPhone and MacBook, I want to stay with Apple and Apple alone. But I have a feeling if they try to mess with this, a lot of people are going to be mad. Apple should watch their step, or they could lose a real lot of business.
