GQ insider

GQ insider

@sethgodin vs @betsbydre (hip hop's mainstream struggle)

Seth Godin (@sethgodin) is one of the world's premiere marketing minds. His blog postings are read by thousands and to be very honest he's influenced my style. 

However recently he wrote a blog entitled " Are $300 headphones worth it?"
and as much as I respect Seth he seemed to be taking a stab at the hip hop community and its influence. His article read:

"Dr. Dre headphones. They list for about $300. Any audiophile can tell you that they sound like $39 headphones. Instead, consider these (he plugs another brand of course). We can prove they sound better!"

I'm curious as to how can these other brands "sound better" when sound is a matter of opinion, he did not attack Sony who's earphones retail at $349 or Bose, who's been around forever, that cost $400.He went at Beats, why? Because people are buying them and not the one's he plugs (or maybe they *cough* asked him to mention their brand) or maybe because they're a hip hop brand.


He went on to say 
"The Dre headphones come with admiring glances at no extra charge. They come with self-esteem built in. You can argue that this is a worthless feature in a device designed to reproduce sound accurately, but you'd be wrong. After all, the whole reason you're listening to music in the first place is to feel good. To be happy. If the Dre's make you happy, and your happiness is worth $300, then they're worth it, no?"


What makes Beats not worth $300 when Dr.Dre is one of the foremost music engineers in the industry. his work includes:
(non-hip hop)
Gwen Stefani
Justin Timberlake
Dr. Pepper
Mike Elizondo (producer for Alanis Morisette and Fiona Apple)
Nine Inch Nails
and Travis Barker


If Dre wasn't one of the best, these groups would not work with him. Hewlett Packard would not have asked him to make a music laptop, is it because they want "street cred", NO,  it's because of his track record. Now I'm not throwing darts at Seth Godin however his angle is very slighted. He ends it with:
"For others (put me in that category) I get more happiness knowing that I didn't fall for a clever marketing ploy, and I buy the ones that I believe sound better. Of course, that's a clever marketing ploy too--persuading me that better sound is worth this much. But don't tell anyone. That would make me feel manipulated."

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, so he didn't fall for clever marketing, THIS TIME?????

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