David Senra · Feb 1Jimmy Iovine: Building Interscope Records & Beats by Dre
Iovine signed Dre after hearing him tame the 808 bass on The Chronic, and cleared three lawsuits to do it. Dre and Iovine put up $70 million to found a school and sold Beats to Apple together.
Tips
- Iovine spotted bad competitors in plain sight and positioned Beats against the headphone category▶ 36:44Dre says the conversation lasted about ten minutes, and Iovine had 30 prototypes a week later.
- Iovine cleared three lawsuits and a RICO case to sign Dr. Dre, the genius under the T. rex▶ 35:28Dre and Snoop became the foundation of Interscope's hip-hop run.
- Iovine got around radio and MTV gatekeepers by buying a 60-second ad for Dre's G Thang▶ 39:39He says it cost a fortune; kids of senators and congressmen came home wanting the records.
