Jimmy Iovine To Leave Apple Music in August: Report (billboard.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Look for Jimmy Iovine to leave Apple Music in August. The former Interscope CEO joined Apple in 2014 after selling Beats, the the music service and electronics business that he and Dr. Dre co-founded, to the tech giant for $3 billion. It is believed his departure is timed to his Apple shares fully vesting, sources tell Billboard. Iovine's ties to Apple go back to 2003 when he first met Apple founder Steve Jobs and exec Eddy Cue, and was a key proponent of Apple's iTunes and iPod. Apple Music, Apple's subscription streaming service, has expanded to more than 30 million paying subscribers since its June 2015 launch. That success is, in part, due to Iovine's focus on content, including developing original programming.

Comments

Bummer

[110010001000]

It is hard to believe that the founder of Beats did it all for the money.

Re:Bummer

[Austerity Empowers]

I would sell my soul for considerably less than $3B. Below about $15M, the devil is getting the better end of the deal. After $15M, you're buying stuck in hell. At $3B, you are a majority shareholder in Damnation, Inc.

Re:Bummer

[110010001000]

Bummer. Monster is an even more upstanding company. It is too bad they got screwed over.

Re:Bummer

[cayenne8]

Considering Beats are pretty much junk when it comes to headphone fidelity....

Can someone recommend to me, some high end bluetooth (wireless) over hear headphones...preferrably with noise canceling tech?

I've just started researching and have found these candidates....

Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones WH1000XM2

Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless

Sennheiser HD1 Wireless Headphones with Active Noise Cancellation

Bowers & Wilkins PX Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones

Is anyone familiar with these? Recommendations from this list or other suggestions?

Also, while I'm researching the specs (freq response, etc)....it find it is a drag to not really be able to often find a local place with the cans so you can try them on for fit, comfort and sound....

Anyway, I have some good Qbuds, in ear phones for biking and outdoors (or gym) for when I also want to hear ambient sound (like cars behind you)....but I was on a flight recently and I thought it would be nice in that environment to have good high end wireless headphones with noise cancellation...but don't want Beats or Bose I saw lots of kids wearing....

While of course, I'd rather not spend a ton of $$ and a good deal suggestion is welcome that has high fidelity...I"m not opposed to spending good money for good sound reproduction.

Thanks in advance!!

Re:Bummer

[Anonymous Coward]

Can someone recommend to me, some high end bluetooth (wireless) over hear headphones

You're kvetching about fidelity, and then wanting to do it over bluetooth.

Are those things even compatible? Doesn't bluetooth do compression and other things which are pretty much at odds with the notion of fidelity.

Re:Bummer

[cayenne8]

You're kvetching about fidelity, and then wanting to do it over bluetooth.

Are those things even compatible? Doesn't bluetooth do compression and other things which are pretty much at odds with the notion of fidelity.

I think BT is better than it was at the beginning.

I have some Grado wired over ear headphones I"ve had for awhile, and I like them.

However, I don't want to carry wired cans on the plane with me, just one more thing to get tangled in backpack and in the way in flight, etc.

Also, I believe most of your wired over the ear headphones are not noise canceling, which is a plus on a plane.

Re: Bummer

[dnaumov]

Yes, lossless AAC would like to have a word with you.

Re:Bummer

[LynnwoodRooster]

As someone who was working there at the time (technical side), that story is bunk. Iovine and Dre contracted with Monster to design, manufacture, and distribute Beats for a set amount of time. Iovine and Dre would handle marketing and sales. When the contract time expired - Jimmy and Dre moved design, manufacture and distribution from Monster and continued on. It definitely was NOT the quality of the product that set Beats apart but the marketing and image-building/branding that made it work. And yes, the audio quality sucked - but it sold billions and so from that standpoint it was an absolute success. Beats wasn't about audio quality, it was about a lifestyle and image. That was Jimmy and Dre - not Noel and Kevin.

Re:Bummer

[LynnwoodRooster]

Note that, technically, Bluetooth audio streaming is prohibited by the FAA, and explicitly prohibited on most Asian flights. Acceptable Bluetooth devices are low-speed, BLE-only like mice and keyboards.

Re:Bummer

[Dayze!Confused]

There are competing systems now with BT for higher quality audio. The Airpods use a proprietary Apple connection, and I believe Samsung has their own. With BT 5.0 there will be much more bandwidth to allow for higher fidelity.

I had recently tested the Sennheiser HD1's, and they were almost, almost there. It was painful to come to the decision that despite their flawless cord to BT switching, and multiple device pairing, and call handling, that there were two areas that just didn't cut it.

1) Comfort, they focused on travel size and shrunk the size of the phones to no longer be over ear but on ear. This and the head band was stiffer and had less padding. I could wear these for 15 minutes and be happy when I took them off. As many others described it, their ears felt hot wearing them, a common sign of fatigue in wearing headphones.

2) The audio quality, even with their special app, was just not up to par. Even using the USB cable connected to the laptop where it does this amazing job of allowing for much better audio through the USB cable, but still could not match the pair of Sennheiser HD 598's I got.

Ultimately it was a combination of both that really pushed me to return them. I picked up the HD 598 for $120, and the Sennheiser HD1's for around $300. For that price I was expecting the same performance and comfort that is what Sennheiser stands for.

The noise cancelling was decent, not as good as Bose (which is why cayenne8 sees them so often on airplanes), but enough that my wife would get mad as she was leaving for work as I could not hear anything she said if I had a little music playing. That's sort of the key to their noise cancelling, it works fantastically with other noise going through them, but only mediocre as a system by themselves. Add to it that they get uncomfortable for extended periods of time and I couldn't see making the 14hr trans-pacific flights with these on. Plus the touch interface left me wanting. Solid buttons still have their place, and it would have been great to have a single button I could press and hold, or press again, to allow pass through for conversation, but alas it is stuck in their touch menu somewhere with a two taps to turn on, two to turn off, but don't confuse it with tap to pause, or volume, or something else.

Re:Bummer

[Dayze!Confused]

I screwed up with the product name, it was the Sennheiser PXC 550, not the HD-1 that I had tested out.

Re:Bummer

[cayenne8]

Thank you for the review/info!!

30M Subscribers? Context?

[cmseagle]

The "30 million paying subscribers" isn't very useful without some context. For comparison, Spotify reports 70 million paying subscribers and 140 million active users.

Re:30M Subscribers? Context?

[LynnwoodRooster]

But those are not iSubscribers, and so they are automatically not worth as much! As far as services go, Tidal is the best if you value audio quality (red book or better), or Google Music if you want best value (massive catalog and family plan for $2.50 per person).

Good music producer

[bobbutts]

Before he became an overpriced headphone salesman he was a good producer of music going back decades.

Re:Good music producer

[Purity Of Essence]

The Defiant Ones documentary series of Dre and Iovine is worth a watch.

Re:Good music producer

[cayenne8]

The Defiant Ones documentary series of Dre and Iovine is worth a watch.

But, I"ve always understood it that the words "Rap" and "Music" were mutually exclusive terms...???

;)

Actually not true

[SuperKendall]

Apple Music is a cash grab, true, but it's not true that it produces nothing. There are a lot of artists that support it's twitter-like "Connect" feature with content - now weather anyone USES that stuff, that I could not say...

There was a while ago something did where Apple would interview artists and you would get this bundle of interview segments along with the song it was talking about. That was actually really great, but I think that was probably pre Apple Music... but it's another example of where Apple is doing more than simply streaming music from labels.

Re:Actually not true

[TheFakeTimCook]

Apple Music is a cash grab, true, but it's not true that it produces nothing. There are a lot of artists that support it's twitter-like "Connect" feature with content - now weather anyone USES that stuff, that I could not say...

There was a while ago something did where Apple would interview artists and you would get this bundle of interview segments along with the song it was talking about. That was actually really great, but I think that was probably pre Apple Music... but it's another example of where Apple is doing more than simply streaming music from labels.

I actually think Apple Music is a great value.

I'm actually a big "own the physical media" kind of guy; but having access to virtually ALL of iTunes Music collection everywhere/everywhen at a whim is pretty damned cool.

I could care less about the "Stations" and all that nonsense; but the "Big Jukebox in the Sky" concept is well worth it. I just do a Search for it, and BAM! There it (usually) is! And I'm an old guy that listens to primarily fairly-obscure 70's and Prog Rock stuff, and I have been amazed that even MOST of that stuff is available.

And if I find that I have been listening to something again and again, I still have the option to buy the physical format (albeit not from Apple, which I think is a missed opportunity on their part), or as a DRM-free, great-sounding 256k AAC "iTunes Plus" download (although, with Apple Music serving it up infinitely, that doesn't seem to be a good value).

Yes, I know that the music only keeps coming as long as my subscription keeps getting paid; but in the scheme of things, $10 a month is well worth it for a Googolplex of albums I like to listen to occasionally, but would probably never actually purchase anyway, and Apple doesn't seem to care that my iPhone, iPad MacBook Pro, AppleTV and even my work Windows Laptop are sharing the same ID, Apple Music happily streams to ALL of them.

Re:Actually not true

[TheFakeTimCook]

I guess I called it, nothing-faggot consumer whore Kendall is here to shill. What a fucking tool.

Says the scaredy-cat AC...

Bravo, moron. Well played.

Why don't you log on and fight like a man?

Re:Actually not true

[SuperKendall]

I also like Apple Music but I think you could get that same "any music any time" kind of service from Spotify or Amazon... I just wanted to lay out the extra stuff Apple gives you related to music (though it seems like the extra stuff has not often gained much traction, I have to think it does entice some subscribers).

Re:Actually not true

[TheFakeTimCook]

I also like Apple Music but I think you could get that same "any music any time" kind of service from Spotify or Amazon... I just wanted to lay out the extra stuff Apple gives you related to music (though it seems like the extra stuff has not often gained much traction, I have to think it does entice some subscribers).

But I'd rather give my money to Apple than Spotify or Amazon. Especially since I am already using "Music"/iTunes on all my devices/computers anyway.

Amazon already gets enough of my money, anyway... ;-)

time to switch to next over hyped brand!?

[kiviQr]

Time to switch to next over hyped brand (quality vs price)? We are past bosse, beats; who is next?

Re:Non-Story

[Lunix Nutcase]

He probably couldn’t leave earlier contractually or he’d lose his options.

Re:Is he to blame?

[TheFakeTimCook]

Is he the asshole to blame for this incessant nagging by Apple to sign me up for Apple Music and the attempts to do it for me whether I want it or not?

In which case .. good riddance mother fucker.

No, you may not take my music collection, upload it to the cloud, delete my fucking copy of my fucking music, and then fucking charge me for the privilege of streaming music I ripped from my own goddamned fucking CDs.

Apple Music is one of the most obnoxious implementations of an internet service I've ever seen. Seriously, just accept that I don't want it and fuck the hell off.

Funny. It has done NONE of that to my 60+ GB of music in my personal iTunes collection.

I don't subscribe to Itunes Match; so no "Cloud Copying".

I DO Subscribe to Apple Music; but it in NO WAY interferes with my personal iTunes collection.

So, STFU, you stupid, LYING, Anonymous COWARD, Troll.