Author: JD

  Beats Music in February integrated Topspin’s commerce tools, which lets artists such as Eminem and Nine Inch Nails sell merchandise directly off of Beats Music’s service. Beats Music’s Chief Executive Ian Rogers on Tuesday announced his company is acquiring Topspin Media, a platform that lets artists sell merchandise and albums directly to fans. Beats Music Hires Ex-Gang of Four’s Dave Allen as Artist Advocate (Exclusive) Beats Music Rolls Out Commerce Via Topspin Topspin Layoffs Signal Strategy Shift Rogers, who had left his position as CEO of Topspin a year ago to join Beats, announced the deal in ablog post, saying, “The acquisition brings a team of talented people who have spent years working on building and fine-tuning the artist-to-fan connection into the Beats Music experience. Topspin + Beats Music combines music discovery and direct relationships between artists and fans in a revolutionary way.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Beats Music declined to comment further beyond Rogers’ post. After a year of watching artists bash streaming music for not paying enough to musicians, Beats Music launched its service in January with an eye toward positioning itself as a service that is friendly to artists, a message that Rogers re-iterated in his blog. “We’re committed to establishing Beats Music as a conduit for the artist-fan relationship, a platform where artists have a voice, and a provider of useful data and analytics on how fans interact with artists and their music,” Rogers wrote. “This acquisition puts our money where our mouth is.”