Beats 1 architect Ian Rogers departs for fashion industry

Ian Rogers, who co-founded Topspin and was the architect of Apple’s Beats 1 radio, is joining French luxury group LVMH, whose brands include Louis Vuitton, Dior, Marc Jacobs and Bulgari.

It was revealed the one-time CEO of Beats Music left Apple last week, apparently startling the company. The news came just two months after the launch of Beats 1 radio, where he played a key role in developing the platform and even enticed its chief curator Zane Lowe two move to Cupertino from his UK-based role with BBC.

When the news of his exit broke last week it was only reported that his new role would be outside the tech industry and would take him to Europe. Now, it’s been revealed Rogers will be chief digital officer at LVMH, and base himself in Paris.

LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault said in a statement: “Ian will bring his extensive experience in high-end digital ventures and his innovation-driven spirit to develop LVMH leadership in the digital luxury field.”

While LVMH makes everything from Moet, Chandon and Dom Pérignon champagne to Givenchy, Fendi and Kenzo, in August last year it invested into one of South Korea’s three largest record labels. Its AU$85.9m investment into record label and talent agency YG Entertainment (home to K-Pop star Psy) saw it gain a stake in YG’s fashion and makeup goods projects.

Prior to Rogers’ time as CEO of Beats Music – and before Beats Electronics was acquired by Apple for US$3 billion – he emerged as webmaster for the Beastie Boys between ‘93 and ‘98, he then became GM of Yahoo Music. After that he headed up the artist-to-fan marketing and sales platform Topspin. Beats bought Topspin’s technology to integrate into its service, and of course, also brought in Rogers’ tech expertise.