When he made his foray into the label executive side, starting Interscope Records in 1990, he was on a mission to challenge the status quo, evidenced by the success of an array of culture-disrupting acts like Nine Inch Nails, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Marilyn Manson, Tupac Shakur, and Lady Gaga. Then, of course, came Beats Electronics — in partnership with Dr. Dre — which the duo sold to Apple for a reported $3.3 billion in 2014.
So why the pivot to fashion? A rep for The Vampire’s Wife says Iovine and Ross, in addition to being major investors, are directly helping shape the brand. Iovine hired the brand’s president Leonardo Lawson, and the business’s direct-to-consumer sales have tripled in the last year. Unlike other womenswear brands, The Vampire’s Wife — whose sales strategy is inspired by skateboard brands — also doesn’t share imagery of collections before they drop. That protects consumers and wholesalers from the “normal product fatigue that can happen when items are shown well ahead of their go-to-market date,” the rep says. “This strategy oftentimes leads to sell-outs of their product, especially items offered D2C on their site.”as a result of their customers quarantining at home.
While D2C retail and the music industry most certainly cross over in the realm of merch, Iovine did not respond over email when asked if more music-related ventures were in his future.