Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine Meeting with Musicians Over Exclusive Beyonce-Like Album Releases

Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine has been meeting with a number of music artists over doing exclusive album releases similar to Beyoncé's incredibly successful iTunes album last year, reports the New York Post.

Citing sources close to the matter, the paper notes that Iovine is using his close connections with popular musicians like Nicki Minaj, Pharrell, and Gwen Stefani to create new side deals that would bring exclusives, with Beats also said to be negotiating additional promotional deals after a successful campaign with AT&T earlier this year.

It’s been almost a year since Beats Music launched with a brace of Super Bowl spots starring Ellen DeGeneres and a big promotional backing from AT&T.

The promotional relationship ended a few months ago, and parties are discussing future deals. "They outperformed expectations in terms of the upsell," said one source of AT&T.

beyoncebig
In February, it was reported that Apple's iTunes chief Robert Kondrk met with record label executives during Grammy Week in January about the potential of more exclusive album releases similar to Beyoncé's. Kondrk emphasized sales through digital storefronts like iTunes in those meetings, and asked executives if they could lock down individual track sales after a certain window of time to create greater attention for artists and their music.

Beyoncé's self-titled album broke a number of records after its exclusive release on iTunes last December, selling over 828,000 copies in just three days to become the fasting selling collection of music in the service's history. The album was backed by significant promotion on the iTunes Store and across various social media networks.

Popular Stories

airtag purple

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch Next Year With These New Features

Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development. Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag. Timing Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Magic Mouse Next to Keyboard

No, Apple CEO Tim Cook Didn't Say He Prefers Logitech's MX Master 3 Over the Magic Mouse

Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false. The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

18 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Wednesday November 13, 2024 2:09 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 next month, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well....
iCloud General Feature

Apple Acknowledges iCloud Notes Disappearing and Explains How to Fix

Saturday November 16, 2024 9:45 am PST by
Earlier this month, we reported about some iPhone users temporarily losing all of their notes in the Notes app after accepting Apple's updated iCloud terms and conditions. Apple has now indirectly acknowledged this issue in a new support document that outlines steps to follow if your iCloud notes are not appearing on your iPhone, iPad, or Vision Pro. Fortunately, the notes can be re-synced...
iPhone 7 Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter

Apple Seemingly Discontinuing Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter Introduced Alongside iPhone 7

Sunday November 17, 2024 12:33 pm PST by
It appears that Apple is discontinuing the Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter that it released alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in 2016. The adapter was recently listed as "sold out" on Apple's online store in the U.S. and most other countries, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The adapter remains available from Apple in only a handful of countries, such as...

Top Rated Comments

roadbloc Avatar
129 months ago
iTunes Exclusives is great for everyone. It rewards the best music fans who choose to consume music in the right way. It rewards the biggest and most talented artists with more revenues. And Apple also benefits from being at the forefront of the biggest music releases.

I only buy CDs so obviously, I disagree. Consume music the right way? How ignorant.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sandstorm Avatar
129 months ago
iTunes Exclusives is great for everyone. It rewards the best music fans who choose to consume music in the right way. It rewards the biggest and most talented artists with more revenues. And Apple also benefits from being at the forefront of the biggest music releases.

First - I stongly disagree that iTunes is "the right way". Not until Apple offers a proper streaming at least.
Second - exclusives are a slippery slope. Do I really need to explain this?
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iososx Avatar
129 months ago
The only true benefactor of using iTunes is Apple.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
arbitter Avatar
129 months ago
iTunes Exclusives is great for everyone. It rewards the best music fans who choose to consume music in the right way. It rewards the biggest and most talented artists with more revenues. And Apple also benefits from being at the forefront of the biggest music releases.
Wait what? According to you iTunes is the option to consume music the right way? I agree it is a way. But the right way? Shortsighted.

I for one do not like these exclusive deals. What do people do that don't have iTunes or an Appe account, and already pay for a streaming survice like Spotify. Good for Apple to rake in some money sure, but not good for the consumer. Always better if it comes out on all platforms at the same time. Also prevents illegal sharing of course.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macUser2007 Avatar
129 months ago
Nope, most without an iTunes account or Beats subscription will not rush to sign on just to hear these exclusives.

This is how the road to mass piracy begins then, again?

Or did someone at Apple just realize that they paid 2.5 billion too much for this Beats thing?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
129 months ago
On John Gruber's latest podcast he said he's heard that the Beats deal was 100% Eddy Cue. He was the one inside Apple pushing for this deal. If this is why then he has way more power than he should have inside Apple. People hate exclusives. There's a lot Apple needs to do to improve iTunes. Offering exclusives from artists who are best buds with Iovine and Dre isn't it. It will be a turnoff more than anything else.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)