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Former Beats 1 head Ian Rogers joining the French luxury group behind Louis Vuitton and Bvlgari

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It was a surprise to learn last week that Apple Music exec and Beats 1 head Ian Rogers was leaving Apple just two months after the launch of the company’s streaming music service. What’s equally surprising is where he’s going: Re/code reports that he is joining French luxury giant LVMH.

Rogers will leave California and move to Paris, where he will be chief digital officer at LVMH, the holding company behind iconic luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Bvlgari.

This confirms earlier reports that he was joining a European company in an unrelated industry.

The fit is far from obvious. The former Beats Music CEO has spent his entire career in the music business, and while some had speculated that the move from CEO to senior exec might have been a difficult one, there’s as yet no suggestion that Rogers will be resuming a CEO role within LVMH.

The get is a bit of revenge for LMVH which has seen a number of execs leave for Apple ahead of the Apple Watch introduction.

Photo: FastCo

Update: 

[tweet https://twitter.com/iancr/status/638731449496014848 align=’center’]

Key Apple Music / Beats 1 director Ian Rogers leaves Apple

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Apple Music and Beats 1 lead Ian Rogers has unexpectedly left Apple two months since the Apple Music launch. Although Apple Music app has received some criticism, Rogers’ primary responsibility, Beats 1, has received much critical acclaim and has been widely praised, so it is surprising to see a resignation out of the director. The Financial Times first reported the departure, which has now been confirmed by Apple.


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Apple Music will be available on Sonos speakers by end of the year

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Update: Apple has confirmed in a statement to Buzzfeed that Apple is working with Sonos to get Apple Music available on the connected speaker system by the end of the year. Original story below.

Apple Music senior director Ian Rogers — ex Beats Music CEO — has announced on Twitter that integration with Sonos for Apple Music is coming as soon as possible. Although Beats Music did have native support on the popular internet-connected speaker system, there have been no announcements about a partnership with Apple Music so far. In the tweet, Rogers confirms that there will be no Sonos integration at launch.


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Beats Music’s Ian Rogers auctioning lunch in LA or Cupertino for charity

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Update 2/5: Auction just wrapped up at $3,250 just over the estimated value.

Former Beats Music CEO and current Apple employee Ian Rogers is participating in a charity fundraiser through the online auction site Charitybuzz. With the estimated value pegged at $3,000, the fundraiser has a starting bid of $600, and runs for two weeks starting today. The highest bidder will have the opportunity to meet the former Beats Music CEO in either Los Angeles (where Beats is headquartered) or Cupertino (near Apple’s campus) for a private lunch meeting.
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Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers to also lead iTunes Radio at Apple, according to report

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Ian Rogers, the head of Beats Music, will now also lead iTunes Radio following the Apple acquisition. Apple wants to increase collaboration between both Beats Music and iTunes Radio by having both streaming services led by Rogers. Up to now, iTunes Radio has been headed by Jeff Robin’s team, best known for creating the software that became iTunes.

The Journal says that Rogers’ leadership will increase ‘cohesion’ between the services, which currently offer a lot of app in their end-user experiences. It is still unclear whether Apple has plans to consolidate the brands.


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Beats Music responds to launch issues, says free trial length to be doubled

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Since Beats launched its Beats Music streaming music service earlier this week, the launch has been plagued by reliability issues and new customers not being able to sign up.

Responding to these complaints, Beats CEO Ian Rogers has sent out an email to customers with an explanation:

Huge thanks to everyone for making our launch day yesterday so successful. We’ve been blown away by the love that made us the #1 Music App in the iTunes Store.

Due to the extremely high volume of interest in our service some users are experiencing issues. Most people are unaffected but our priority is to give everyone a great experience. We prepared for issues like these, have a plan, and are going to hold off on letting more people in while we put this plan in action.

For those of you that claimed your name in the lead up to launch, we still have your username reserved and we’ll be in touch with your invite. We appreciate your support.

Everyone who registers this week will get an additional seven days added to their trial.

We’re staying focused on bringing you the best music experience from the people who know what song comes next. Stay tuned, and thanks for being excited about Beats Music.

Ian Rogers
CEO

Notably, for people who register this week, free trials will be extended by seven days. That is essentially the trial being doubled as the free trial was initially seven days.


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