EXCLUSIVE: One of Australia’s most successful consumer electronics partnerships is over with Beats Audio deciding to part company with Sydney based distributor Convoy despite 100% growth last year.Beats Electronics, who are known as a difficult company to deal with, has not named their new distributor in Australia.
According to Convoy management, the Company will now concentrate on growing their Monster range of products which include the Diesel and DNA range of headphones.
It was only 12 months ago that Beats parted company with Monster who was credited with creating the brand globally.
When Monster Cables joined forces with the team behind Dr Dre Beats, the result was a range of headphones that offered superior sound quality in addition to a worldwide brand phenomenon.
However, while the partnership produced a number of iconic lines of sound gear, Monster, who has had a long relationship with Convoy over many years, chose to no longer produce Beats headphones. Instead they chose to concentrate on brands such as Diesel and DNA claiming that they were a superior product offering to Beats.
At the time Monster executives said “Monster has diversified its headphone line-up, offering the technology it brought to the Beats ranges of headphones with new designs and a specific focus on sound quality.”
Geoff Mathews, the CEO of Convoy said “We have officially parted company with Beats Electronics. We are not aware who has been appointed to distribute the brand in Australia. We will now focus on our Monster offerings that will compete head on with the Beats headphones.”
Established in 2006 by artist and producer Dr. Dre and Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Jimmy Iovine, Beats Electronics grew quickly in Australia with Convoy with turnover tipped to be more than $15M in 2011.
At the start of the year Beats Electronics had another falling out with HTC after the phone maker quit a $300M investment in the Company. It’s now reported that HTC is set to drop the Beats Audio technology from their phones altogether.
