Beats' Jimmy Iovine Breaks Down Difference Between Tech and Hollywood

Beats co-founder and CEO Jimmy Iovine said the tech industry and Hollywood have not typically gotten along.

“Hollywood people are desperately insecure and the guys in Silicon Valley seem to be slightly overconfident,” Iovine said, speaking at the Code Conference, hours after the $3 billion deal was announced.

In Apple, though, Iovine insisted he has found like-minded souls.

“I know how much they care about audio and I know how much the other guys don’t,” Iovine said. Other tech companies use sound as a feature but then cut costs wherever they can, he said, without naming names.

For his part, Apple’s Eddy Cue reiterated that Apple bought Beats for three big reasons: The talent, the headphones and the Beats Music subscription service. But it is all about music.

“Music is something really important to culture,” Cue said. “It’s important to everyone in the world. … This is just about us continuing to invest in music.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook outlined his rationale in an interview with Re/code’s Peter Kafka.

As for the new hires’ titles, Iovine and Dre will be simply Jimmy and Dre. Iovine said that he and Dre will report to Cue on the music side and Senior VP Phil Schiller on the hardware side. They will have offices in Cupertino.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

We have a request

Vox's journalism is free because we believe that everyone deserves to understand the world that they live in. That kind of knowledge helps create better citizens, neighbors, friends, parents, consumers and stewards of this planet. In short, understanding benefits everyone. You can join in on this mission by making a financial gift to Vox today. Reader support helps keep our work free, for everyone. Will you join us?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$95/year

$120/year

$250/year

$350/year

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $120/year

Yes, I'll give $120/year

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via