(AllHipHop News) Jimmy Iovine was the Chairman of Interscope Records through every single significant rap rivalry since 1990 and is well accustomed to competitive marketing. During last night’s Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, Iovine took a shot at competing streaming service Spotify’s current popularity.
Spotify debuted in the United States in July 2011 and has since garnered 10 million paying subscribes globally. However, the streaming service has only been able to garner 3 million paying subscribers in the United States after three years. According to Iovine ““Spotify should have 10 million people in America”, even with Beats Music reportedly struggling to gain subscribers.
Beats Music debuted in January of 2014 and in its first 100 days was reported to have accumulated a paying subscriber base “in the low six-figures”. Comparatively, Spotify attracted roughly 600,000 paid subscribers in United States in its first year. Iovine used his history in the music industry to explain why Beats’ slow popularity growth is not that big of a problem:
When you’re making music, you don’t look at what’s going on in the studio next to you. We run our race. We market our race.
After claiming tha Beats spent “zero dollars” on marketing in the first three years, relying solely on media attention, Iovine stated him and Dr “knew how to harness the media.” Besides vaguely explaining his and Dre’s role at Apple, he does explain why the two chose to work with the tech giant:
[Me and Dr. Dre] met with the guys, and what we realized is they get it. They have feel. They understand culture.
Apple is set to hold an event at the Worldwide Developers Conference this Monday (June 2nd). Check out Beats by Dre and Apple’s first advertisement below:
