Beats is either 'in talks' with Apple over new music-streaming service, or it's just very good at marketing
Excuse us, but we find it hard to swallow some of the hype that swirls around the Beats brand. That sounds harsh, maybe, but it's borne out of experience. Anyway, we do trust Reuters, and that outlet claims to have it on good authority that Beats is "in talks" with Apple over a partnership involving the forthcoming Daisy music-streaming service that was formerly MOG. The word is that Tim Cook attended an "informational" meeting with Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine and "expressed interest" in his business model -- whatever that is -- and that Apple's head of Internet products, Eddy Cue, was also present.
In news that is very much related, Beats has also revealed that it's managed to generate enough buzz around the $12 million acquisition of MOG to raise a further $60 million in investment to help it to launch the rebranded and hopefully expanded service as a separate entity later this year. It'll be interesting to see how the newcomer plans to tackle the already-entrenched competition, possibly with curated playlists and other MySpace-style ideas, and we're fully prepared to eat our skeptics' hats if it succeeds.
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BEATS ELECTRONICS ANNOUNCES INDEPENDENT FUNDING FOR MUSIC SERVICE, INTERNALLY DUBBED "DAISY"
Highly Anticipated Music Service Spearheaded by Jimmy Iovine, Ian Rogers and Trent Reznor Receives Significant Third Party Investment; Officially Spins Out As Stand-Alone Company
Santa Monica-March 6, 2013 - Beats Electronics, LLC (Beats), the leading audio brand co-founded by legendary artist and producer Dr. Dre and Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman Jimmy Iovine, has secured a $60 million investment led by Access Industries (the industrial group founded by Len Blavatnik), Marc Rowan, James Packer and entities affiliated with Lee M. Bass for a new music service powered by Beats, internally dubbed "Daisy". With this new capital, "Daisy" has become a stand-alone company and is set for launch in late 2013.
"Beats was always about helping people re-discover the magic in the experience of listening to music," said Iovine. " Now that we are well along the way to addressing the quality of audio playback with Beats headphones and speakers, Daisy allows us to re-introduce the same magic into the process of music discovery and consumption".
This investment group brings significant expertise in music and subscription business, complimenting and extending the advantages already bestowed upon "Daisy" from its close relationship with and initial investment from Beats.
"Beats has the vision, the brand, the management team and now the investor group to effectively change the expectations and experiences of a music subscriptionservice," said Len Blavatnik. "I'm looking forward to taking on this exciting challenge together."
Earlier this year Beats announced former Topspin head Ian Rogers will be Chief Executive Officer of "Daisy" and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor will serve as the music service's Chief Creative Officer. In 2012 the company also purchased digital music service MOG, which will provide the foundation platform for "Daisy".
Investment Bank Moelis & Company acted as the exclusive financial advisor and placement agent for this raise.
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ABOUT "DAISY"
"Daisy" is the internal code name for a new music service powered by Beats Electronics LLC. (Beats) that aims to solve the current digital music problem. Developed on the back of MOG, the premium subscription music service acquired by Beats in early 2012, "Daisy" will bring the emotion and cultural context back to music discovery for music lovers and provide a platform for artists to build a sustainable business. The service is set to launch in late 2013.
Led by Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman Jimmy Iovine, Beats President & COO Luke Wood alongside Daisy CEO Ian Rogers and CCO Trent Reznor, "Daisy" is based in Santa Monica, CA.
BeatsElectronics LLC is the parent company of the Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ line of high-quality headphones and Beats Audio™ HD-sound systems. Beats' mission is to provide a superior end-to-end music experience - with headphones, devices and services - so fans feel the emotion and hear the music the way artists intended it to sound from the studio.
