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Brands & Merch
Monster Cable sign up Beatz and Zulu
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 8 February 2013
Monster Cable Inc, the tech company behind those over-priced, cumbersome, ridiculous looking headphones Dr Dre somehow convinced the kids they had to wear, has signed up Swizz Beatz and Ludacris’s business partner Chaka Zulu to help them sell, well, I suspect more overpriced, cumbersome and ridiculous looking sound kit.
Just how important Monster Cable were in the creation of the Beats By Dre headphones, and to what extent Beats owners Dre and Interscope chief Jimmy Iovine screwed over Monster’s founder Noel Lee and his son in the venture, is very much of debate, and depends who you talk to, Beats or Monster. Though this fascinating article by Gizmodo throws some light on their partnership.
But either way, the joint venture between the two companies was called to a close a year ago, and officially ended at the start of 2013, which is presumably why Monster is now signing up new music business talent to its team. Swizz Beatz, last seen signing up to an impressive sounding role at MegaUpload (just before the US government shut it down), will provide creative and marketing support to Monster, while Zulu will seek artist partnerships.
Whether either new partners will appear in consumer-facing marketing campaigns for Monster isn’t clear, though ‘The Original Beatz Headphones’ would be a fun bit of trademark litigation to follow.