Beats Acquires Music Streaming Company MOG, Reportedly for Only $10 Million
posted Sunday Jul 8, 2012 by Nicholas DiMeo
After the departure from Monster Cable, it was unsure how Beats Electronics was going to thrive independently. HTC then swept in and now has a majority stake in the company and Beats Audio is slowly showing up in several more devices here in the States. However, while the company's flagship product, Beats by Dre headphones, has expanded the lineup to include more celebrities, it appears that's all Beats has going for them. The product itself now is not being manufactured by Monster and really lacks the overall sound quality that people are looking for, especially if that person wants to actually listen to music without making it sound like a trunk is rattling in their head.
Beats Electronics has announced that the company is buying the music streaming service MOG, with both sides now confirming the acquisition. For those who don't know, the company is almost an exact replica of the original version of Spotify, which has grown exponentially since its inception in America. MOG is having a very hard time gaining any traction but now with a hardware company behind it, Beats will now attempt to offer a full music experience. This is similar to what Apple does, from the device, to the consumption software to the headphones.
We have more on the acquisition after the break, including the official statement from Beats and what their plans moving forward.
David Hyman, CEO and founder of MOG said that "The addition of MOG's music service to the Beats portfolio will provide a truly end-to-end music experience." The rumor was going around back in March that the deal was already in place but Hyman officially confirmed it this week.
Beats Electronics has now also issued a formal press release with Luke Wood, COO of Beats, saying,
Beats was never about just headphones. We've... expanded the Beats mission to every other link in the music experience chain - speakers, mobile phones, personal computers and automobile sound systems. 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.
We are being told that MOG will operate as its own company even after the purchase; their MOG Music Network is not part of the acquisition. The LA Times is reporting that Beats paid less than $10 million for the whole deal but that figure cannot be confirmed yet. While HTC acquired majority stock in Beats, this was the first acquisition for Beats itself. It does stand to say that MOG was the first service ever to have all of their music catalog available for streaming in 320kbps MP3, which is almost twice the quality of a CD.
Can MOG now surpass Spotify with Beats behind it, or will HTC and Beats just add MOG to all of the handsets? I've not used MOG but now I'm going to give it a try. Has anybody else used it? What's your experiences? Tell us below in the comments section.