GQ Magazine has named Apple exec and Beats cofounder, Jimmy Iovine, as one its Men of the Year. To go with the annual honors, the music legend sat down for an interview to discuss how he went from sweeping floors in a New York recording studio at 19, to creating the iconic Beats brand at 55.
Apple acquired Iovine’s company for a record $3 billion earlier this year, but according to Jimmy, it took him about two years to convince Apple that they needed him to plug the musical hole Steve Jobs left when he died in 2011.
“I convinced them that they had to buy this company. I said, ‘I don’t want to work for anybody else. I want to do this at Apple. I know I can achieve this at Apple. I don’t want to shop it. I wanna come here, to Steve’s company. I know you guys; I know what you’re capable of; I know you get popular culture. I know you have a hole in music right now; let me plug it.’
I think it was two years before they said yeah.After Steve died, and with the rise of streaming, I could see they needed something. Beats Music fit.”
Jimmy also dished and his special relationship with Dr. Dre, as well as what he does to find peace in life, despite his insatiable ambition. “When I go up to Apple to work on this music service we’re doing, I’m in it,” Iovine said. “I’m in that spot from 1973, in the studio, just saying, ‘I’ve gotta crack the code on this thing.’ But I got it. It doesn’t have me. The holy grail is peace, with ambition. Otherwise, you’ve wasted your life.”
There quite a few other interesting bits in the interview, like how Iovine’s temp assistant discovered Eminem, plus a tale of how Iovine tried to suck up to John Lennon, before both of them admitted they just got into music to get laid.
You can read the full interview right here
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
4 responses to “Jimmy Iovine dishes on how he convinced Apple to buy Beats”
Oh God, Apple having a hole in the music business? Let’s see, which company is profitable in the music subscription business? NO ONE. NOT SPOTIFY, NOT BEATS, NOT ANYONE. It’s a big bag of NO PROFITS. Spotify just announced they got more revenue but also grew their losses. What a FREAKING JOKE.
http://www.audiostream.com/content/spotify-grows-sales-and-losses
Iovine is the biggest scam artist… Who cares about Eminem other than other white boy gangbangers? Yeah, I could believe that Iovine was sucking up to Lennon, too bad the album they did together was not Lennon’s best work. Who cares if Iovine has a special relationship with Dr. Dre? Are they closest “you know whats”? Dr. Dre never even studied music. God these two are just the wrong pair to bring into Apple. I hope their contracts run out and the both leave Apple.
he went from weeping floors in a New York recording studio at 19, to creating one the iconic Beats brand at 55.
Jimmy also dished and his special relationship with Dr. Dre
What?
Oh. It’s Buster. That makes sense.
I didn’t read your comment before posting mine. Kind of sad that on what should be an interesting read for many people, the only thing anyone is talking about is how poorly written the article is.
Proofreading…it goes a long way. My 11 year old can help!! I am seriously wondering if Buster read this before posting.