Gadgets: Cans now carry the music biz

Last week, Forbes magazine named rapper, producer and entrepreneur Dr Dre as the highest-earner in hip-hop. In 2011, Dre made $110m (£70m) not from music – his last album was released in 1999 – but from headphones. Beats by Dre, the sound-equipment line launched by Dre and his business partner Jimmy Iovine in 2008, reportedly accounted for 53 per cent of the $1bn (£622m) global headphone market last year. Recently, Dre and Iovine sold 51 per cent of the Beats Electronics brand to HTC for $...

Read full article Share article