“Back in the 1970s and 80s, before he helped found Beats Electronics, Jimmy Iovine was a record producer working on albums like Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes,” Ben Popper reports for The Verge. “To help him craft hits, Iovine had a radio tower built into the A&M studio on the Charlie Chaplin lot. At the end of each session, he would take the day’s mix and broadcast it over the airwaves. Then he would get in his car and drive around so he could hear the music the same way most fans would experience it for the first time, a form of field testing that helped him perfect the final sound.”
“Fast-forward a few decades and the headphone company created by Iovine and fellow record producer Dr. Dre has conquered the market and been acquired by Apple for a whopping $3 billion,” Popper reports. “How did they do it? There were plenty of high-end headphones on the market before Beats showed up, but they were mostly aimed at a niche audience of audiophiles.”
According to data from the NPD Group, prior to 2012 premium units made up less than a third of the revenue generated from headphone sales. For the average consumer, a $20 pair of Apple’s earbuds would do just fine,” Popper reports. “‘I get this question all the time. Okay, headphones. But headphones have been around for so long,” TJ Grewal, Beats’ head of product, told The Verge. ‘Why now? Why did it happen? Why Beats?'”
Read more in the full article here.
Conquered the world? Hardly!
Beats absolutely conquered the headphone world. A majority of premium headphones sold are Beats models. No other manufacturer is even close.
Basically Beats did for headphones what Apple has done in its markets — entered an existing market and redefined it by giving people a premium product that they didn’t even know they wanted, and made it cool.
Yeah, but is Beats’ product really any better? I’ve often heard it said that Beats headphones are overpriced, too fragile for what you pay for them, and so bass-heavy that they’re only good for listening to hip-hop.
Mind you, I’ve never purchased premium headphones, so I don’t know myself. Could be crap talking from haters. Lord knows the “overpriced” criticism gets thrown Apple’s way often enough.
But the thing is, we Apple users know that we’re getting a damned good product for the premium we pay. Do you get anything for the premium you pay on Beats headphones, other than the prestige of being seen with that “b” on your head?
——RM
To clarify why this is an issue:
Brand prestige backed by quality products = loyal customers in growing numbers
Brand prestige backed by nothing but a trendy hip brand = customers that all leave when the fad gets tired and something better comes along.
If Beats headphones are truly superior, they will become the BMW of headphones and be on top forever. If not, people will get bored them in a few years. (Remember when the phone to have was the Motorola RAZR? That didn’t last, because when you got beneath the cool appearance, it was a sh*t phone.)
——RM
Beats success didn’t just appear yesterday. They’ve already been on top for years now. If it was only the brand and hip marketing, the whole thing would’ve fallen apart by now with no multi-billion dollar purchase from Apple.
One key consideration – what is the barrier to entry for competitors? Other companies make very good headphones at competitive prices – Bose, Sennheiser, etc. So why the rise of Beats?? What sets these expensive headphones apart from viable competitors?? In my opinion the key factors are:
* Appearance – sleek and trendy, colorful
* Sound – loud, bass heavy output popular with the younger generation and in sync with rap and other increasingly popular music genres
* Marketing and Celebrity Affiliation – LeBron, etc.
In many respects, this is the same approach that Nike used to differentiate its shoes from very similar competitors. Can Beats sustain this differentiation and maintain its market dominance in premium headphones? That remains to be seen. But the barriers to entry do not seem to be that great for major Beats competitors.
I am not sure that matters. My younger daughter (14 years old) has wanted a pair of Beats for the past couple of years. But they cost too much for me to be willing to fork out that kind of money for a product with mediocre specs that could easily be broken, lost, or stolen.
Beats are absolutely not a premium product. There are 3 sets in our home 2 solos and the studio – all presents for kids over a year or so. The head bands come undone, the screws and replacement parts are impossible to get – as recently as last month I called the help line for replacement parts. The support person was familiar with the problem. He told me to call the corporate office and ask where I can get the screws that hold the plastic top on (currently held together by duck tape). Call the corporate office? Right – just like aapl support over the last 20 years. aapl will have their work cut out for them servicing this legacy garbage. And the sound? – load up the bass dr dre – what a great music mind – perfect.
You obviously didn’t look hard enough for replacement screws; Amazon do a set of four with a Torx driver for $7.99
Here’s the feed back from the 5 star review ( I’m not including the 1 star) – yep, just like aapl:
Replacement screws for Beats Headphones
Customer rating 5.0/5.0
July 12, 2013 By socalsteve
Amazon Verified Purchase
These are great to have as back up since beats does not sell these.
It is what it is, screws and a torx screw driver. They seem to be good quality.
I would recomend to have these for anyone that has these headphones. The screws do come loose and I added loktite to the screws.
Upshot of the article: they made headphones that sound like car speakers. Interesting. And not intuitive.
That was my takeaway. For 200+ dollars all your music can sound like it was broadcast for your car radio.
“niche audience of audiophiles”
That’s a laugh!
That’s true. Most people who would consider buying expensive, high-end headphones prior to Beats were audiophiles. Expensive headphones never really reached the masses. Thus, a niche audience.
I swear there is nothing but negativity on this forum. Bitch bitch bitch about everything and everyone every day. Hate the government, hate the Koreans, on and on. Only thing many folks love is hating. Don’t buy them. Conquered the World? Hell no, why, they only got a piddling $3 billion dollars from Apple. Humph, that is chicken feed to macaholic. And Higo for sure does not have any Beats you can bet. But he is an expert about them. My car speakers are pretty good BTW, came as part of a $3,500 music system.
quit your bitchin’.
BTW, my car stereo costs $3600.
Those headphones are still ugly.
More importantly, they sound like ass, but that’s irrelevant, as there is no denying the almost unbelievable commercial success of Beats. The unfortunate part, of course, is that many of those who purchased Beats headphones at a premium price, more than likely, did NOT check out the similarly-priced competition and actually listen to them. They purchased Beats on hype and hype alone.
Still, congrats to the guys at Beats for all their success. Let’s hope that Apple-era Beats products will be even better… because they can’t be much worse. 😉
Beats are the best but they filter out all non HipHop music. Wish I could listen to Rock N Roll again. I keep getting error messages whenever I try changing genres.
Beats headphones are a great con game…. Premium pricing…. Horrible sound quality….. But that’s the power of marketing….
You sound like an Apple hater describing the iPhone, iPad or any other successful product they make.
And the beat goes on.
I have wireless beats Bluetooth is best quality I’ve had and I’ve had other wireless. The range is crazy far too. Before u bash try a pair.
Premium products? Premium PRICE.
Not premium price. The never-ending flock mentality of the sheeple make everybody buy this crap.