Beats Electronics, the company co-founded by Dr. Dre (pictured) and Jimmy Iovine, ended weeks of speculation by confirming today it has acquired the Mog on-demand digital music service. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but news reports put its value in the neighborhood of $10 million.
Both companies emphasized their mutual appreciation high-quality audio in all aspects of digital music. Mog was a pioneer in delivering their entire catalog at 320 kbps, for example, and Beats president and chief operating officer Luke Wood said his company started with headphones as just the first step on a product roadmap to a complete premium music experience.
“Beats By Dre was born out of a need to restore the emotional connection with music that was lost by the degradation of sound from the digital music revolution,” he said. “With Mog, we are adding the best music service to the Beats portfolio for the first truly end-to-end music experience. With their talent and technology, the possibilities around future innovation are endless.”
Mog will continue operations as usual and does not expect any changes that will affect its users. MOG employees will remain with the company and will continue to work out of MOG’s offices in Berkeley, Calif., while MOG founder and CEO, David Hyman, will assume the title of CEO of Mog reporting directly to Wood.
The Mog Music Network (MMN), a destination for music content and a leading music-focused advertising network, is not part of the acquisition.
HTC owns a 51 percent majority stake in Beats Electronics, for which it paid $300 million in August 2011.
Hyman (pictured, right), former CEO for Gracenote, founded Mog in June 2005. Its investors include Menlo Ventures, Balderton Capital, Simon Equity Partners, Universal Music Group and Sony Music.
“We’re thrilled to be joining forces with Beats, a company that’s committed at the highest level to the experience surrounding music delivery; the fit feels perfectly natural,” Hyman said. “Mog subscribers can expect continued excellence from the best music service in the market, and we look forward to putting premium music experiences in the hands of millions of music lovers everywhere.”
Related links:
Mog – press release
Beats Electronics – http://beatsbydre.com
Mog blog – The Future Sounds Awesome.
Los Angeles Times – Beats by Dre to buy MOG digital music service
USA Today – Beats Electronics acquires MOG music service
TechCrunch – Beats’ Acquisition Of MOG Confirmed: ‘Beats Was Never Just About Headphones’
Hypebot – OFFICIAL: Dre & Iovine’s Beats Buys MOG
