Beats CEO prodded Steve Jobs to launch an Apple streaming music service

Remember that Apple-branded Internet radio rumor that started a few months ago? Well, it was actually planted in Apple founder Steve Jobs’ head by Beat Audio chief exec Jimmy Iovine, according to an interview he did with AllThingsD.

Iovine said he and Jobs developed a close working relationship in the early 2000s while he was still working for Interscope, and would often discuss how streaming music was becoming the future.

“I was always trying to push Steve into subscription. And he wasn’t keen on it right away,” Iovine said. “[Beats co-founder] Luke Wood and I spent about three years trying to talk him into it.”

While the world may end up seeing a streaming music service from Apple in the near future, the reason why it hasn’t already happened came down to licensing costs, according to Iovine. Jobs apparently thought the fees were too high, and that record labels would eventually come down. (In reality, those rates may actually start going up for all forms of radio if industry lobbyists have anything to say about it.)

Despite Apple’s early reservations, Iovine has pushed forward with his own plans to revamp the streaming music service market. His company Beats acquired streaming music service MOG back in July 2012. And just yesterday, Iovine officially announced plans for a brand new streaming service called Daisy headed up by music man Trent Reznor and former Topspin CEO Ian Rogers.

Image illustration by Tom Cheredar