Report: Jimmy Iovine Will 'Step Back' from Daily Apple Music Involvement in August
While Apple Music’s Jimmy Iovine denied a report earlier this year that he was leaving the company by calling it “fake news,” his role with the company will apparently change in August.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Iovine will shift into a consulting role in August and “step back” from daily involvement with the streaming service.
Iovine is changing roles in August to spend more time with family, according to the report:
Apple is losing the public face of its music operations, just as its streaming service is finding its beat. Executive Jimmy Iovine will transition into a consulting role in August and step back from daily involvement with the company’s streaming-music business, according to people familiar with his plans.
Other big-name executives from the $4 billion Beats acquisition have also left Apple:
Mr. Iovine is one of the last of a team of prominent music executives Apple gained when it bought Beats Electronics LLC in 2014 for $3 billion. Former Chief Executive Ian Rogers, Beats co-founder Dr. Dre and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, another top Beats executive, have all left or distanced themselves from the company since the Apple deal, people familiar with the business said. Beats President Luke Wood, who oversees the headphone business, remains.
Apple Music currently has more than 36 million subscribers. Even though Spotify leads the pack with 70 million subscribers, the number of paid Apple Music subscribers will likely overtake Spotify in the United States later this year.