Wurst, a 25 year-old singer whose real name is Thomas Neuwirth, sported a tight shimmering dress, long hair, and a beard to win the contest. The best known of former winners are the Swedish supergroup ABBA which took the prize in 1974 and Celine Dion, the 1988 winner. Things have obviously changed a little in the 58 years of Eurovision history.
Thinking about Eurovision and music calls to mind again last week’s reports that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is reportedly set to acquire headphones and streaming music company Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion. Apple revived the music business in the first years of the new century with its iPod players.
Relatively inexpensive music sold by the song and available anywhere the customer could carry the player revolutionized the way people listen to and buy music. The music industry had focused on selling CDs with several tunes at prices approaching $20 compared with the $0.99 price of most songs from iTunes. And most fans don’t want to pay for a dozen songs they don’t care about to get the one they want to listen to.
Now streaming music that is available for rent is replacing purchases of single tracks as well as CDs and Apple and the music industry were both late to the party. In order to jump to the top of the heap — which is the only place that Apple can afford to be — the company has to do something big and daring and paying a fortune to Dr. Dre and music industry mogul Jimmy Iovine will certainly make everyone notice that Apple is now in the streaming business for real.
The deal, if it happens, is not about headphones and maybe not even about streaming. It’s largely about Iovine, a 61 year-old music industry veteran who has engineered and produced artists like Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith, and founded and ran a successful record company. He’s a proven quantity in the industry, and, if if he joins Apple and can drive the adoption of streaming even further than it has already gone, he will be worth every penny Apple pays.
But it’s a very big if. The Beats streaming music player has generated little enthusiasm, and the competitor Apple is aiming at — Spotify — has 24 million users in 56 countries. More than 6 million of those users are paying subscribers. Apple starts in a big hole, and even a music industry big shot like Iovine may not be able to pull the company out.
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