Jimmy Iovine is not leaving Apple
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Jimmy Iovine is not leaving Apple
Five days after news broke that Jimmy Iovine might be leaving Apple in August, the man himself revealed to Variety that it's "fake news".
In an interview with the executive director of the Grammy Museum L.A. Live Scott Goldman, Iovine statd that he is committed to staying on the team and helping Apple get music streaming right.
“I am almost 65, have been with Apple for four years and in 2 1/2 years the [Apple Music] service has gotten to well over 30 million subscribers and Beats has continued its successful run. But there’s still a lot more we’d like to do. I am committed to doing whatever Eddy [Cue], Tim [Cook] and Apple need me to do, to help wherever and however I can, to take this all the way. I am in the band.”
Responding to allegations that he is cashing out on the final payout from the US$3 billion Beats deal, Iovine shared that his stocks have always been vesting in stages since he sold Beats.
“There is a tiny portion of stock that vests in August, but that’s not what I think about,” Iovine added. “My contract is up in August, but the funny thing is, I don’t have a contract. I have a deal, and certain things happen along that deal. The bottom line is I’m loyal to the guys at Apple. I love Apple, and I really love musicians. That’s why those articles annoyed me, because it had nothing to do with reality. It made it out to be all about money.”
While he is going to turn 65 in a few months' time, Iovine shared he would "help streaming come to scale". He also revealed his thoughts on the next generation of musicians and executives on YouTube who are going to have a lot of leverage in making future deals.
“What’s going on with YouTube – all of us who have kids here [know] there are artists on YouTube who have 5 million views who have never had a record deal or even met a lawyer. Well guess how much leverage that artist has going in to making deals? A lot of the new deals coming out are very [favorable] to the artist, which I completely applaud. That’s a different dynamic. The old deals are being replaced by new deals.”
Source: Variety
