Apple denies Beats Music shutdown rumor but may eliminate Beats brand

[Shawn Knight]

Apple has denied reports suggesting it plans to shut down the Beats Music streaming service it acquired as part of its $3 billion purchase of Beats Electronics this past May.

News of the potential shutdown was first reported by TechCrunch earlier today. The publication said they had it on good authority – five different sources including Apple and Beats employees – that Apple has already reassigned multiple Beats Music engineers to other projects within the company including iTunes. None of the sources were able to provide an exact date for the closure but all agreed that it is indeed going to happen.

Such a move wouldn’t be terribly surprising when you think about it. Apple already operates its own music streaming service, iTunes Radio. Having two competing services on the market doesn't seem like Apple's style as they have never been big on fragmentation.

What’s more, Beats Music chief Ian Rogers was recently put in charge of running iTunes Radio. Splitting his time between the two services could easily have been seen as a transition to running iTunes Radio full-time.

In a follow-up with Re/code, Apple said that the Beats brand may go away but they want to stay in the streaming music business.

Getting rid of the Beats brand, at least in terms of streaming music, does make some sense, especially when you consider the driving motivator behind the acquisition was likely to bring Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre on board to tap into their music industry expertise. Picking up the lucrative headphone business like didn't hurt, either.

Perhaps iTunes Radio and Beats Music will simply merge into one?

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/58156-apple-denies-beats-music-shutdown-rumor-but-may-eliminate-beats-brand.html

 

[bavon]

Well, well; the honeymoon is over.

 

[RzmmDX]

Sounds like some of the engineers will be working on the new super awesome digital music format.

Hooray... now everything makes sense.

U2 was just a distraction.

 

[AddUmm]

Buy a company with an amazing consumer product and brand loyalty and then chop it up and kill the name that's synonymous with "Quality" (it's in " " cause anyone that's a self proclaimed audiophile knows better, posers and regular consumers will swear by their shiny Beats cans...). I get they got some engineers and Dr. Dre but is that really worth $3B?? Personally I would have tapped a company with some real audio engineering chops like Creative, sure they haven't been relative in a while but I'm sure they have some IP that would be useful. Sure Dre is awesome amazing at producing and things music but I feel like his focus in music is to narrow to justify the cost. Maybe someone who's worked in all genres. Mind you most music is just deep bass drops and a repeating hooks. I just for the life of me can't see (technically) or 'hear' anything in a pair Beats that I couldn't get out of a pair of Senheissers or Audio Technicas. Sure they look good and bass is pumped up, but why do you want to listen to sloppy bass?
Then again we're talking about Apple a company that's more about image than cutting edge tech. Beats are the Apple of headphones, pretty to look at, work well enough, hefty "cool" tax but technically mediocre to major competitors. Apple keep the Name! Your audio hardware sucks! If you put out a set of cans with the Apple logo that's the fastest way to alienate a vast majority of Beats consumers, not everyone wants to carry around Apple products.

 

[captaincranky]

Buy a company with an amazing consumer product and brand loyalty and then chop it up and kill the name that's synonymous with "Quality" (it's in " " cause anyone that's a self proclaimed audiophile knows better, posers and regular consumers will swear by their shiny Beats cans...). I get they got some engineers and Dr. Dre but is that really worth $3B?? Personally I would have tapped a company with some real audio engineering chops like Creative, sure they haven't been relative in a while but I'm sure they have some IP that would be useful. Sure Dre is awesome amazing at producing and things music but I feel like his focus in music is to narrow to justify the cost. Maybe someone who's worked in all genres. Mind you most music is just deep bass drops and a repeating hooks. I just for the life of me can't see (technically) or 'hear' anything in a pair Beats that I couldn't get out of a pair of Senheissers or Audio Technicas. Sure they look good and bass is pumped up, but why do you want to listen to sloppy bass?
Then again we're talking about Apple a company that's more about image than cutting edge tech. Beats are the Apple of headphones, pretty to look at, work well enough, hefty "cool" tax but technically mediocre to major competitors. Apple keep the Name! Your audio hardware sucks! If you put out a set of cans with the Apple logo that's the fastest way to alienate a vast majority of Beats consumers, not everyone wants to carry around Apple products.

I hope you don't mind me asking but,what exactly is "Dr, Dre's" doctorate in, "applied profanity"?

 

[Lionvibez]

Buy a company with an amazing consumer product and brand loyalty and then chop it up and kill the name that's synonymous with "Quality" (it's in " " cause anyone that's a self proclaimed audiophile knows better, posers and regular consumers will swear by their shiny Beats cans...). I get they got some engineers and Dr. Dre but is that really worth $3B?? Personally I would have tapped a company with some real audio engineering chops like Creative, sure they haven't been relative in a while but I'm sure they have some IP that would be useful. Sure Dre is awesome amazing at producing and things music but I feel like his focus in music is to narrow to justify the cost. Maybe someone who's worked in all genres. Mind you most music is just deep bass drops and a repeating hooks. I just for the life of me can't see (technically) or 'hear' anything in a pair Beats that I couldn't get out of a pair of Senheissers or Audio Technicas. Sure they look good and bass is pumped up, but why do you want to listen to sloppy bass?
Then again we're talking about Apple a company that's more about image than cutting edge tech. Beats are the Apple of headphones, pretty to look at, work well enough, hefty "cool" tax but technically mediocre to major competitors. Apple keep the Name! Your audio hardware sucks! If you put out a set of cans with the Apple logo that's the fastest way to alienate a vast majority of Beats consumers, not everyone wants to carry around Apple products.

I hope you don't mind me asking but,what exactly is "Dr, Dre's" doctorate in, "applied profanity"?

When you are worth a few billion you get to use titles in your name without actually earning them where you been son?

lol

 

[captaincranky]

When you are worth a few billion you get to use titles in your name without actually earning them where you been son?

lol

So he doesn't have a PHD? How about a B.S.?

I bet Apple is going to impose their brand on top of the existing trademark. Maybe something like "Dr. Drapple, it just beats:"

 

[mctommy]

Itunes = ibeats.
beats = ibeats.

Unification. BAM.

 

[misor]

They are buying 'u2' and will be calling it 'i2'
they will shutdown 'beats' and will introduce an amazing audio product line called iBeats.
and I'm serious because of apple's iWatch product.

 

[trgz]

Just getting rid of the Beats brand is enough for me

 

[captaincranky]

Just getting rid of the Beats brand is enough for me

It just doesn't seem right to hope for more than that, does it? Especially with it being this close to Christmas....

 

[Guest]

Apple and Beats were pretty much the same thing in their respective markets: overpriced nonsense. Now Apple's got a monopoly on College Hipsters, where do they go now?

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Buy a company with an amazing consumer product and brand loyalty and then chop it up and kill the name that's synonymous with "Quality" (it's in " " cause anyone that's a self proclaimed audiophile knows better, posers and regular consumers will swear by their shiny Beats cans...). I get they got some engineers and Dr. Dre but is that really worth $3B?? Personally I would have tapped a company with some real audio engineering chops like Creative, sure they haven't been relative in a while but I'm sure they have some IP that would be useful. Sure Dre is awesome amazing at producing and things music but I feel like his focus in music is to narrow to justify the cost. Maybe someone who's worked in all genres. Mind you most music is just deep bass drops and a repeating hooks. I just for the life of me can't see (technically) or 'hear' anything in a pair Beats that I couldn't get out of a pair of Senheissers or Audio Technicas. Sure they look good and bass is pumped up, but why do you want to listen to sloppy bass?
Then again we're talking about Apple a company that's more about image than cutting edge tech. Beats are the Apple of headphones, pretty to look at, work well enough, hefty "cool" tax but technically mediocre to major competitors. Apple keep the Name! Your audio hardware sucks! If you put out a set of cans with the Apple logo that's the fastest way to alienate a vast majority of Beats consumers, not everyone wants to carry around Apple products.

I hope you don't mind me asking but,what exactly is "Dr, Dre's" doctorate in, "applied profanity"?

I doubt he'd know what you're talking about.