A music mogul's tech audio makeover
Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine wants to get the iPod generation hooked on high-quality sound. Photo: Beats by Dr. Dre.
The camera crew is setting up for our interview, and Jimmy Iovine wants me to listen to something on his iPod.
The chairman of Universal Music Group’s Interscope Geffen A&M Records is holding forth about how great his Beats Solo headphones sound; and as the overlord of a music empire that includes Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Eminem, and U2, he should know. He hands them to me and nudges the volume higher. The music thumps through, all rich bass and clear vocals.
“These sound pretty amazing,” I tell him, which is a bit like telling Frank Lloyd Wright he has decent taste in houses. Iovine takes this personally; he developed them alongside legendary hip-hop producer Dr. Dre.
The headphones are just one part of an audiophile movement Iovine and Dre are trying to spark in the under-30 crowd, the core music-buying audience. The Internet and digital revolution have greatly increased music’s availability — you can download it, stream it, and take it practically anywhere — but at the expense of quality. Says Iovine: “The sound has been degraded to such an extent that it’s, at times, not even representative of what went on in the recording studio.” He points out that the youngest music buyers, many of whom have never heard an LP, don't know what they're missing. More
