Music Industry Analyst Bob Lefsetz on the Apple/Beats Deal

He’s not impressed:

And today Jimmy Iovine executed the best pivot in the history of the music business. He left it behind.

Huh?

That’s what a businessman wants to do, get out. Only musicians are lifers. Businessmen are all about the money. Clive Calder made more, but he had no second act, Jimmy Iovine’s got a second act. He’ll be the creative “genius” at Apple, because Tim Cook is creatively bankrupt, he’s Bob Morgado reincarnated, he doesn’t understand the fundamentals of the company, he believes it’s about efficiencies, supply chain management, profits and losses, whereas the real winners know it’s about personality. David Geffen. Irving Azoff. Steve Jobs.

They’re different from us. Whip smart, they’re willing to break rules, they see the new game emerging before the old one is history. Irving Azoff built the new MCA Records, upon which the present empire sits. David Geffen gave us not only DreamWorks, but Laura Nyro, Jackson Browne and “Dreamgirls.” And Steve Jobs gave us the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

What has Tim Cook given us?

A bunch of hot air. Bupkes.

Tell us what you really think, Bob.

★ Sunday, 1 June 2014