Jimmy Calls

"We got young people interested in sound quality once again."

It's a funny rule of thumb. Be nice to people and you never hear from them. Be nasty or get it wrong and they light up your inbox!

Jimmy wanted to set the record straight.

What he said was they do no discounting. That there's one Costco in Canada that gives a few bucks off, that they can't seem to stop, but other than that everyone pays retail. They've got authorized distributors, if someone makes a deal, they lose the right to sell. Jimmy's not sure whether the KSL offer was of legit headphones or not. But if they're real, Beats is gonna find out who the distributor is and they're gonna lose their license.

As for the Chinese sites... It's a full time job, they've got a stack of lawyers fighting counterfeiters. Just like Nike. As for the existence of these sites, Beats doesn't have the cash of Apple, they're doing the best they can.

So here's how it goes, Dre says:

"It's one thing to steal it, it's another thing to destroy it."

Yup, there was nothing Dre could do about online theft, but it bugged him that the files kids were listening to were so awful. That was the inspiration for Beats. (Another source also told me that Dre was constantly pitched endorsements but wouldn't do them because they were not in his wheelhouse, sound was.)

So Jimmy and Dre hired Robert Brunner, who used to work at Apple, before Jonny Ive, to design the headphones. Once they were done, they approached Noel Lee at Monster for help, primarily in distribution. Jimmy says Noel did help a bit with design, but the termination deal is signed, sealed and delivered. Monster is in a sell-off period, but Beats has now established its own distribution network and the pipeline has been filled.

You see everything's manufactured in China. Which is how Apple does it. How so many high tech companies do it.

There are multiple sets of Beats headphones, and they all sound a bit different, they've got ten producers around the world who tweak the sound as to their liking. As for the sound curve, Jimmy emphasized that Beats headphones were made for modern music, the music of today.

Jimmy said I'M AN AUDIO FREAK! He said he's got five sets of Tannoys, he shows up in the studio with Brystons. He took six weeks to get the sound right on a single track on "Damn The Torpedoes." And Dre puts in the same effort.

"When we started this, they said no one will pay for sound again."

Jimmy's right about that. And like a true rock and roller, he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Our goal is to get kids to go from earbuds to headphones."

And he's done a good job of that.

"It's our version of studio sound."

As for HP... That's a licensing deal. And Jimmy pointed out how interesting it was that Dell is advertising upgraded sound now. Computers were tuned for voice, Jimmy wanted them tuned for music.

As for Chrysler... Jimmy and Dre sit in the car with a geek in the back, tuning the sound.

As for HTC, they had half, now they've got 25%. (A source told me this reduction was made because Jimmy, et al, had an option, kind of like Jive with BMG, that would force HTC to buy them out, and with HTC's sinking fortunes, the deal had to be redone, so HTC wasn't on the potential hook for so much cash.)

Can two guys who spent their lives in the studio make better headphones than the traditional players?

I'll leave that for you to decide.

But I wanted to set the record straight. Jimmy says there's no discounting of Beats headphones. I believe him.


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