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The baffling success of 'Beats' by Dre
A billion dollar business in 6 years!!
Why are so many people now willing to spend £200+ on naff headphones? The power of branding on vast swatches of humanity is scary at times
A billion dollar business in 6 years!!
Why are so many people now willing to spend £200+ on naff headphones? The power of branding on vast swatches of humanity is scary at times
I think you've answered your question yourself there.
They're a lifestyle accessory, not a piece of kit for audiophiles.
Think I saw a Louis Theroux documentary on audiophiles
they must have spent an absolute fuck-ton on marketing though
his albums are well produced
so he knows what he's talking about yeah?
never actually listened to a pair. are they crap?
They're fine for like a £50 pair of headphones
Worth nowhere near their £180+ pricetag basically.
can't be bothered to explain it to you
they give free headphones to footballers
then you see said footballers arriving at the stadium on telly and stepping off the coach, they're all wearing these headphones. In the Bayern Madrid match last night the players were even wearing them on the pitch for warming up before the match. Insane. But giving out free stuff to celebrities for endorsements works I suppose.
Probably some lifestyle guff too.
they're in loads of music videos too
Yup. NBA and Olympic stars made them huge in the US too.
I HAAATE this
omgomgomg. It honestly is one of my pet hates, when you see the players arriving in their Number 1s, looking so smart and then as they approcxh the camera you see that they're chewing gum and wearing those stupid pastel coloured headphones that swamp half of their head. Unless they're listenign to the maradona/zlatan latest audiobook then there is no excuse. And there is never any excuse for wearing them on piutch. They're luke a bunch of overpampered big fucking babies. What has happened to teh proper BURMA footbnallers of old. (getting relaly angry now thinking about this). Actually i was going ON about this at the weekend and wondering about WTF they are actually listening to. the conlusion was that they are all listenign to the worst kind of chart R&B/ Gangsta rap.
Anyway, it makes them look like imbeciles. they should be walking proud and purposefully towards their dressing rooms. this is so much of what is wrong with footballers today- spoiled and indisciipled big Brand babies.
worse still was the fucking olympic swimmers rocking up wearing their GIGANTIC headphones....you're in a swimming pool ffs
a decent excuse for not having to stop and sign autographs because
they can't hear the requests.
No need to go doorelaly
*this is so much of what is wrong with the general population today- spoiled and indisciipled big Brand babies.
the conlusion was that they are all listenign to the worst kind of chart R&B/ Gangsta rap.
MUSIC FOR IMBECILES
Why are people willing to spend hundreds of pounds on a pair of shoes?
Same reason they spend more money on anything fashionable, because they're fickle idiot dickheads.
That said, at least Beats look like they have some kind of staying power
Comparatively at least
^wants people to pay money every year for updated Football Manager stats.
;)
Cheeky sod
:D
Come on the new games have a mode with less in it too!
no you can't really compare it with shoes
Yeah, you can though.
I think there's a difference between paying for design and paying
for branding.
Why are these headphones only successful due to branding?
If a product is disproportionately
more successful than others of a similar kind it's usually down the marketing, people have different tastes so it's rare that so many people like the same design. Many will like the design but the thing that will push it into a billion dollar business ahead of other is the branding.
I don't know if your beef is just with people buying expensive things generally or the reasons why they buy them
Celebrity endorsement's been a huge factor for them.
Amazing detailing of how Jimmy Iovine and Dre screwed over Monster (the original manufacturers of Beats products) and used their connections to have Beats products appear everywhere here: http://gizmodo.com/5981823/beat-by-dre-the-inside-story-of-how-monster-lost-the-world
"The Dr. Dre task force took Monster's audio gear and pimped it, tirelessly, as a gadget status symbol without rival. That was the plan—period. Marketing, Iovine told Kevin Lee, would take too long. Education would take too long. Instead, the strategy was to enchant the public: Beats would be "the hottest product to have, and sound will be a Trojan horse. And that's what we did. Beats was in every single music video," says Kevin. Iovine made sure Beats had prominent placement across Interscope's sterling roster, infiltrating the money and product lust-addled brains of video-watching America."
great insight from gizmodo there
I'd like some scientific proof they're 'crap'.
I think that's part of the reason for their success. Sound quality isn't a thing you can easily measure, so you can't just say "look, these aren't as fast or as light as this decent product"
the ones I've heard aren't terrible compared with other £20-30 headphones, but putting them next to similarly priced products shows them up quite badly.
http://itsjustjustin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Monster-Beats-by-Dre-vs-Beyerdynamic-DT-880.png
How to interpret the line: A “natural sounding” headphone should be slightly higher in the bass (about 3 or 4 dB) between 40Hz and 500Hz. This compensates for the fact that headphones don’t give you the physical punch or ‘impact’ that the sound waves from a room speaker have; so a slight compensation for increased bass response is needed for natural sound.
Headphones also need to be rolled-off in the highs to compensate for the drivers being so close to the ear; a gently sloping flat line from 1kHz to about 8-10dB down at 20kHz is about right. You’ll notice all headphone measurements have a lot of jagged ups & downs (peaks & valleys) in the high frequencies; this is normal and mostly due to reflection cancellations in the folds and ridges in the outer part of the ear. Ideally however, the ups and downs of the frequency response should be fairly small and average out to a flat line. Large peaks or valleys over 3kHz in width usually indicate poor headphone response, and should be viewed as a coloring of the sound. Some small dips in the highs may actually be desirable and should exist in the 2kHz to 8kHz region.
jeez, no wonder basically all headphones are too bass-y
seems like loads to be rolling off the top
i think thats why open backed headphones sound better too
but open backed headphones on a bus etc... :/
do any phones/portable players have a proper adjustable EQ?
instead of you know, the crap presets
you could probably get an app for it maybe?
I dont listen to music on the move so dont know
Aye, download PowerAmp.
Proper adjustable EQ, for listening to proper bands.
i'm on a blackberry.....
bowl of rice?
Do you have an MP3 player?
Certain customisable firmware that you can download comes with EQ settings. I use Rockbox.
i have a zen stone from about 7 years ago
which actually does have a limit EQ on it, but yeah mainly just me phone
My KOSS Porto Pros make everyone in the world hate me.
I rarely use them outside of my house now.
Is that true of MP3s too?
I guess my point is really about what we're listening to with headphones and in what situations.
But I accept that this does not look good for the Beats quality.
is what true of MP3s?
doesnt really matter what format.. although you cant polish a turd
MP3s are already lacking in bass, though.
I don't know about high frequencies. My point is really that most on the move listening is beset first by outside noise intrusion and secondly by the fact that you're listening to a compressed recording.
So as long as what you've quoted up there holds true for all recordings then that's fine. But if the curve for the Dre headphone is designed to make MP3s sound great that would probably account for its popularity.
I thought the 'lacking' in bass depends on the mp3
how it was encoded and the codec.. bitrate etc
not sure what format beats music service use though
would probably depend on the music
youre listening to aswell
Like The White Stripes
they do have a certain twat-factor
Bit of a pointless question
but what is the sound quality like? I've heard it is pish, but you know, I heard that from indie bellends (oh).
Marketing strategy has been brilliant though, allowing dodgy rip offs so that genuine pairs would be conspicuous consumption, silly colours, giving them for free to Olympic athletes etc.
Recent ones have been better,
but in sound terms, they're still only as good as products that are half the price (it used to be around a quarter of the price).
they are very bass heavy
did they kill off skull candy?
haven't seen those around in a while. there's a silver lining.
Something something commodity fetishism
Objectified value, character mask, uh... narcissism.
Cba with that shizzz. Do want an mp3 player soon though.
How much is a new iPhone these days?
Compared to other, equivalent phones?
About the same price.
hmm
the best is when laptops advertise BEATS TECHNOLOGY
as in from the internal laptop speakers.
what about the beats 'pill' ad
where kendrick lamar takes a portable player to the hair salon to demo a studio track he is putting together with dre...
Having a phone with beats technology
I can assure you it's nothing then an EQ preset that turns up the bass and increases the volume of all other channels (though not as much as the bass)
so basically the same as crap stereos of yester year
with SUPER BASS button
nice
To be fair
it does make the speakers on the phone sound better and it helps my passive speaker a great deal. But sounds fucking garbage on regular speakers and headphones.
Beets by Dre
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lve475r4mz1qc1l15o1_r1_500.png
(stolen from DiS Facebook)
https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/p370x247/10259794_10152203185668145_8570539260019763416_n.jpg
Audiphiles are the most emperor's new clothing lot imaginable.
All this sort of bollocks:
http://www.badscience.net/2006/01/sounding-out-the-hi-fi-kettle-leads/
I quite liked them when they first came out
Pretty colours, a decent size so unlikely to lose them, plus they were on a good deal in an airport Dixons. Like most thigns htough I decided to have a htink about it befroe buying and the next time i remembered about them, it was because I was struck by how ubiquotous they were. Quite the business model, and as marckee said, not everybody who is buying them is buying them because they want the highest posisble tech spec per £ spent.
(still wouldn't be seen dead with a pair, but that's only now that I think that- I could so very easily have bought them instanted that time. I'm being thrawn.)
I was given some (presumably) expensive headphones as a gift. They have terrible sound quality and leak noise really badly, but are supposedly noise cancelling.
Willing to sell to the highest bidder. They are Bose, so upmarket and that.
Anyone?
post the model number
will do when I get home.
They have a hard case and everything
because bose are shite m8
it's an audiophile cliche to say that but it's true
i don't doubt they're expensive though
really?
shite in the sense that they cost $150+
and are worth $40 max
That would be my experience of these ones.
Perch incredibly precariously on the head; one slight gust and they are gone.
Crap sound.
Loads of leakage
Works with some weird battery thing which means your headphones can actually die. Pointless.
Useless things, but they come with a hard case so I'll start the bidding at one hundred of your pounds.
really selling them!
Have to say they look pretty great.
If you're going to wear a big pair of headphones, you're going to want them to look good, aren't you?
Don't see what the difference is with something like, I dunno, designer watches. Do the same job to the same quality as products a fraction of the price but people buy them because of the name/brand/association. Buying a watch for about £479 is about as justifiable in my eyes* as buying a pair of Beats by Dre but they you go.
* - And in my eyes it's profligate, vulgar and shallow. But people are free to spend their money how they choose.
Watches can act as heirlooms, though.
Imagine inheriting a pair of Beats by Dre.
A pair of headphones could easily act as an heirloom.
Not as culturally accepted or durable, of course, but they still could. Imagine inheriting a Casio G Shock etc. etc.
Good friend of mine inherited his Pops' headphones from the 70s
They are totally amazing...but then he was an audiophile/record collector.
A watch is a little more discrete
than a giant pair of red shiny headphones that are increasingly being worn by utter gooseberries trying to get a bit of street cred
Not necessarily.
Although `worn by utter gooseberries trying to get a bit of street cred`. Would LOVE to analyse your lifestyle and see what you a) do and b) purchase to maintain a certain level of cred amongst the peers we identify closest with. We all do it. Criticising people who wear Beats for fashion/cred is worse than actually wearing a pair, pal.
do portly middle managers in burton suits
identify most closely with rappers?
everything i wear & use i unbrand, i am one and nothing
I don't know. I don't care.
Yeah
at least headphones have a purpose, a watch is just poncey jewellery for ponces.
Senheiser Momentums look better
Not seen a single person wearing them
It's interesting that you use the word "wearing"
rather than, say, "using". Well, not that interesting.
No-one says `using headphones` :D
The only people I have seen wearing these headphones
is schoolkids on the bus and professional sportspeople warming up before a game / race.
omg just saw how long this thread is :Dre dre
he's putting so much money into it to distract people that they're owed detox
it's worked cause we're all talking about the headphones and not detox
#detox2014
Great cans, well worth the money.
These are all natural baby.
Got a pair with my laptop (the aforementioned) beats technology nonsense.
Sold 'em on ebay. Would have kept them but they're way too bass biased and sound a bit muddy. Fine if you like that sort of thing I guess. Found them rather uncomfortable too, but may have just been that specific model.
$3.2 billion!
Apple reported to have plans to buy headphone maker Beats for $3.2 billion (£1.9 million)
Fuck me
*£1.9 billion
But Monster make beats
i think HTC make them now
Monster got done over by Beats on the deal
These valuations are just crazy
Yup
Detailed in the Gizmodo link I posted upthread.
Though according to this Techcrunch article
HTC have already sold off their stake in the company to keep themselves afloat: http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/08/apples-beats-purchase-could-have-saved-htc/
oh shiiii
Doubt Apple would have bought them if HTC still had a stake though right?
Regardless, I bet the htc chief exec is in his basement right now batting a lightbulb.
they used to manufacture them, but never owned the company if I iirc
seems a perfect match tbh
Struggle to understand this
Apple have never bought a company and then used that company's brand, as far as I can remember. It all gets subsumed into the Apple label.
Wonder if they're buying Beats for the subscription service? Big music labels don't like iTunes' dominance and haven't really entertained Apple's approaches for a Spotify-like service. Beats have such a service going already - wonder if this is Apple buying into that?
proper beats, proper dre, great bunch of doctoring
i heard he's not even a real doctor
UNSUBSTANTIATED HEARSAY:
i think they pay a lot of DJs to use them in visible situations, but the DJs either have some genuinely top rate headphones that beats make or just mod some decent ones to look like beats.
as i write this, it's probably not true and im not sure why i got the impression that it was
also unsubstatiated
my brother reckons that most of the people you see around wearing them are wearing knock offs
have noticed a few d's yeah
i think he meant full on 100% illegal knock offs from markets
wot?
thought by "d's" you meant "knock offs with a d on, not a b"
like "ROLLEX"
whilst im saying, as per kitchmo up thread, that there are lots of ones that do look like the proper thing.
maybe "d" means "decoy" in cooltalk idk im almost 30
ditto :'(
“The first billionaire in hip-hop, right here from the motherf**king West Coast.”
Never heard of them.
So much for the power of advertising.
They will get to Manchester eventually
just give it time.
Well, well, well
http://pitchfork.com/news/56815-apple-reportedly-shutting-down-beats-music/
(Apple have denied the story and said that it'll be modified to be rebranded as an Apple product)
"Full disclosure: Pitchfork is one of Beats' featured curators."
what the hell does that mean?
does it mean they curate the music on Beats Music?
still don't know what that means though. They have a hand in choosing what appears on there?
again, no real idea.
Yeah, it does.
Beats is really trying to push the fact that it's full of playlists curated by known tastemakers as opposed to the generic 'Ibiza Summer' or whatever playlists you see on Spotify et al.