“Apple bought Beats, but it isn’t buying headphones and it isn’t buying a streaming music service,” Michael Comeau writes for Minyanville. “It’s buying cultural authority.”
“Apple wants to create the next MTV, with Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine leading the charge,” Comeau writes. “I’m not talking about the modern reality-TV machine MTV. I’m talking about the original MTV that reinvigorated the music business in the 1980s while serving as the premier pop-culture tastemaker.”
“The surging popularity of Beats headphones basically ensures that the $3 billion Apple is spending doesn’t go down the drain, so perhaps the thinking is, ‘Let’s take the Beats Music mentality and scale it.’ And why not? The download model is on the decline no matter what,” Comeau writes. “Beats Music by nature has trouble scaling because it has no free component beyond a seven-day free trial — but that’s where iTunes Radio comes in… I see Apple/Beats functioning as more of a creative/curatorial force than a technological one. Time will tell if it’s the best way forward, but I do know one thing: What the world doesn’t need is just another music streaming service. It needs a new MTV.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
Sounds good to me
but right now everything AAPL sounds good to me
AAPL is soaring to new 52 week highs minute by minute
all is right with the (Apple) world
WTF is this? 1982?
I didn’t have to read any further than “Minyanville”.
Yup. Those headphones are like wearing 2 boomboxes on your head. Way cool. You just need some platform shoes and your good to go!
“your” = “you’re.”
I want my… I want my… I want my MTV.
MTV? Really? you mean they’ll focus completely on reality TV garbage without any good music like it used to be back in the 80’s?
what part of
“I’m not talking about the modern reality-TV machine MTV. I’m talking about the original MTV that reinvigorated the music business in the 1980s while serving as the premier pop-culture tastemaker.”
did you refuse to read?
I continue to be baffled by this Beats acquisition, but it won’t be the first time I think Apple is making a mistake, only to see the wisdom of it later.
MTV (and basically most entertainment) hasn’t been good since the 21st century began. Music used to actually be good, and most of our beloved icons were still making music, like Aaliyah, Michael Jackson, 2Pac, and Prince. Now, no one has any talent that comes even close to these musicians. I wouldn’t waste my time with any of this new stuff.
Clearly our view of what’s good music doesn’t coincide.
“Video Killed The Radio Star” … an entire generation of music has been created since MTV debuted and, only in my opinion, the quality of music has greatly suffered as style overwhelmed substance and the systemic marketing of the “over-hyped, under-talented, next big me-too” singer-songwriter, pretty-boy/pretty-girl pop band, or one-hit wonder slowly caused us to lower our standards and expectations.
Yes, I admit to being older (56) and being cynical, but I still enjoy the occasional good song that shows up amongst the drivel.
13,000+ songs on a 160 GB iPOD Classic plugged into my car audio system gets me where I want to go.
Dude, the labels already were destroying music long before MTV was conceived. There must be a couple hundred albums from the 70s with themes that lament that fact.
Just so long as they don’t launch it with “Video Killed The Radio Star”, cause… Damn!
“120 minutes” was a great show. I purchased a lot of the music they showcased in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. The rest of MTV was “top 40” and did not appeal to me. Fast forward to today and I created a Luna station on iTunes Radio. The majority of the music served was from the Luna era; bands like Guided by Voices, The Magnetic Fields, etc. This is ok, but I already own this music. Serve me something new and good in a “120 minutes” format (background of bands with guests and videos) and I will tune-in.
P.S. – After writing this I learned MTV2 has had “120 minutes” back on since 2011. I don’t have MTV2, so good luck Matt, bring it on Beats!