How Can Jimmy Iovine Misrepresent Music Curation Without Undermining Music By Beats?
Jimmy Iovine's recent misrepresentation of the current state of music discovery, encapsulated in repeated assertions in multiple interviews on the theme that there is no human music curation by streaming music services, surprised me for its blatant disregard for objective reality. Yet I was even more surprised to see that even the majority of both music and tech media outlets softpedaled fact checking, at best, while many otherwise thoughtful individuals in the music industry defended Iovine with a variation on the theme, "That soundbite's not important. We should be focused on this soundbite!"
Given that the tendency to forgive and even flock to the defense of authority figures, no matter how ridiculous, upsets me way more than the widespread confusion surrounding the term "indie", I felt it best to address this topic with a Storify gathering examples of relevant public statements related to the music service once known as "Daisy" that I now term "Music By Beats."
Jimmy Iovine, Curation and Music By Beats
Storified by Flux Research· Sun, Feb 17 2013 22:13:19
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (Ft. Ab-Soul & Macklemore) – Jimmy IovineHook: Ab-Soul] Cause all I ever dreamt about was makin' it They ain't giving it, I'm taking it I'm taking it, taking it, they ain't givin…
Macklemore – Jimmy Iovine Feat. Ab-Soul (Lyrics On Screen) (The Heist)trumanbeatz
Trent Reznor Is Officially Beats By Dre's 'Record Store Nerd'Good news for those who like streaming music services like Spotify, but miss their favorite record store nerd telling them what to listen…
Trent Reznor is creating a new music-streaming service with Dr. Dre – No noticeable differentiation from other services http://bit.ly/SLAN8oWes Davenport
Either Trent Reznor Is Clueless About Streaming Or Beats By Dre Is Taking A Radical Leap Forward – hypebotYesterday news was smuggled out from behind The New Yorker's paywall that Trent Reznor's special project with Beats by Dre is a new strea…
Jimmy Iovine Knows What Music You Want – D: Dive into Mediawsjdigitalnetwork
With Beats, Jimmy Iovine – Not Facebook – Will Tell You What Music You Want"There's an ocean of music out there," said iconic engineer, record producer and Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine. "And there's absolutely no curat…
Jimmy Iovine: "There's an Ocean of Music, and Absolutely No Curation" http://ow.ly/hKk2e via @digitalmusicnws [read the comments, LOL]Solveig Whittle
Beats' Jimmy Iovine still sees 'no curation' in streaming musicBeats is hoping to launch its new Daisy streaming music service this summer rather than towards the end of 2013, according to chairman Ji…
.@Buzzsonic Glad to see somebody besides me isn't going to give Iovine a pass. That dude's in con artist territory now.Flux Research
Beats betting on curated playlists for upcoming music subscription serviceJimmy Iovine's new project out of Beats will move beyond making bass-heavy headphones: It's the Daisy music subscription service that the…
Music Tech Innovation! MOG/Beats to feature hand-curated playlists! http://goo.gl/QEVIw #WhoKnew?Flux Research
TONS of irony in this article! #condescendmuch Still curious as to what #ProjectDaisy will offer #culturallyeptgeek http://pulse.me/s/iw9sSJeff Serafine
Beats On-Demand Music Service Will Always 'Know Where You Are'From the makers of Beats By Dre headphones comes Beats, an on-demand music streaming service, reports. The news came Tuesday during the A…
Trent Reznor's new music streaming service sounds a tad Skynet-y http://bit.ly/XKLSrISPIN
Rockwell – Somebody's Watching Merockwellvevo
Beats, Daisy, Topspin. Putting The Pieces Together. at FISTFULAYENI'm overdue writing a blog post saying THANK YOU sincerely to everyone for all the kind words I've received regarding the article about m…
Will @iancr's brand take a long term hit from Iovine's false representations? http://goo.gl/QEVIwFlux Research
@fluxresearch it's been through worse! :-)ian c rogers
@fluxresearch Misrepresentations? Letting artists see data on who is listening to their music=classic @iancr thinking. Could be very cool.Jason Spitz
.@jasonspitz @iancr Iovine to Billboard on curation: “Right now, there are only mathematical solutions." Agree or disagree?Flux Research
.@fluxresearch @iancr Disagree (see @songza) but Jimmy only knows how to speak in hyperbole.Jason Spitz
.@jasonspitz Hyperbole? That's sad bro.Flux Research
@fluxresearch Sad? Iovine's pullquotes always sound extreme. Dunno how that reflects badly on @iancr's brand. Proof will be in Beats puddingJason Spitz
@fluxresearch Daisy: It all comes down to what the UI actually looks like, how it functions, meets customer need. http://ow.ly/hKu8kSolveig Whittle
Fascinating interview with Jimmy Iovine on a new way of listening to your music. Where "technology marries emotion". http://fb.me/2lekDmNy7James Dore'
The Daily Swarm – Why Jimmy Iovine Will Own the Music Subscription Game…Jimmy Iovine hasn't made too many bad moves in his career, being the head of the prolific Interscope/Shady/Aftermath behemoth and now, wi…
Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg – Nuthin' But AG Thangdjsmile4
More details emerge…excited to see Jimmy & co. pull it off this summer! #daisy #beats http://tinyurl.com/bsvszzlPreston Rodie
Look what Jimmy Iovine (Chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M) & Dr. Dre are teaming up to do!!! http://fb.me/1UfqrEq4oAnatta Roc Records
Put that jimmy iovine money in the trapTre Sylvester
SLACKER HAS HAD, AND CONTINUES TO HAVE, REAL LIVE MUSIC CURATORS FOR THEIR STATIONS. How hard is this to get into everyone (esp. Iovine’s) head? Daisy is late to this game.
We hand pick and curate every single piece of music that streams on Earbits. Iovine is way out of touch
My question would be is he really out of touch or is he willfully misleading everyone willing to listen? Because a lot of people, even in the media, are taking him at face value so it may be a winning tactic. And certainly many music fans will believe Iovine over any media critic. On the other hand, CEO Ian Rogers is making absolutely no public statements probably because he would immediately be asked about Iovine’s misrepresentations. If Iovine does believe this and no one around him is pointing out the problem with a soundbite he’s dropped in every related appearance, then that says he’s surrounded by yes men and women which is also a bad look. Clueless or lying? I don’t like binaries but that seems to be the only possibilities for explaining Iovine’s statements about music curation and discovery.
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Jimmy Iovine's recent misrepresentation of the current state of music discovery, encapsulated in repeated assertions in multiple interviews on the theme that there is no human music curation by streaming music services, surprised me for its blatant disregard for objective reality. Yet I was even more surprised to see that even the majority of both music and tech media outlets softpedaled fact checking, at best, while many otherwise thoughtful individuals in the music industry defended Iovine with a variation on the theme, "That soundbite's not important. We should be focused on this soundbite!"
SLACKER HAS HAD, AND CONTINUES TO HAVE, REAL LIVE MUSIC CURATORS FOR THEIR STATIONS.
How hard is this to get into everyone (esp. Iovine’s) head?
Daisy is late to this game.
We hand pick and curate every single piece of music that streams on Earbits. Iovine is way out of touch
My question would be is he really out of touch or is he willfully misleading everyone willing to listen?
Because a lot of people, even in the media, are taking him at face value so it may be a winning tactic. And certainly many music fans will believe Iovine over any media critic.
On the other hand, CEO Ian Rogers is making absolutely no public statements probably because he would immediately be asked about Iovine’s misrepresentations.
If Iovine does believe this and no one around him is pointing out the problem with a soundbite he’s dropped in every related appearance, then that says he’s surrounded by yes men and women which is also a bad look.
Clueless or lying?
I don’t like binaries but that seems to be the only possibilities for explaining Iovine’s statements about music curation and discovery.