Amidst all the news about the acquisition of Beats Electronics, we’ve heard very little about the CEO of Beats Music, Ian Rogers. Yes, Jimmy Iovine is the big boss at Beats, but given the prominence of the streaming music service in coverage of the acquisition, one would think the CEO of said service would get a bit more ink. Yet this sense that Rogers is missing from the news has been part of the story of Beats Music all along.
It’s Hard To Be CEO When Your Boss Is The CEO
Beats announced Daisy, the early name for Beats Music, and the appointment of Ian Rogers as CEO in early January 2013. Rogers also took over as head of MOG, the separate streaming music service earlier acquired by Beats. In addition Rogers continued with Topspin in the role of Executive Chairman.
In February 2013 Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine went on a barnstorming tour in which some exaggerations were made for which Iovine mostly got a pass.
At the time Ian Rogers seemed oddly quiet. Obviously Iovine’s the big boss and the media entertainer as well so it made sense that he led the first marketing push.
Later that year, in a brief Twitter exchange with Rogers, he stated something to the effect that the muzzle was finally coming off.
Rogers did make appearances along the way, for example, in The Verge and Billboard as well as at SXSW. But he always seemed to be toeing a company line rather than leading a company.
This impression may well be entirely unfair. Rogers has always been rather understated showing quite a bit of insight when he does speak, for example, in his interviews for This Week in Music.
But it’s the depth and quality of Rogers’ …read more
Source: Hypebot.com