Is Jimmy Iovine Getting Into The Music Subscription Biz?

Jimmy Iovine

BEATS ELECTRONICS, known as a headphone maker, will reportedly acquire the music subscription service MOG. BEATS was co-founded by INTERSCOPE/GEFFEN/A&M RECORDS Chairman JIMMY IOVINE, who has some strong opinions about the music subscription model.

"We are looking at this area," IOVINE told THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. "Right now, subscription music online is culturally inadequate. It needs feel. It needs culture. What APPLE has in the downloading world is very, very good. But subscription has an enormous hole in it, and it's not satisfying right now."

BEATS is largely financed by smart-phone maker HTC, which "owns 51% of BEATS, thanks to a $300 million deal last year, and could lend some financial and hardware heft to an online music service," notes THE CHRONICLE.

"I can't show the magic trick," IOVINE added. "But right now the services are utilities. We only see things in a complete thought."

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