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For the past several months it’s been rumored that Apple is working on an iTunes music subscription service to compete with the likes of Spotify and Rdio. Google is reportedly also looking into some sort of music streaming service involving YouTube.
According to a new report, Apple executives recently met with a high-profile music industry executive to discuss business economics and the mysterious “Project Daisy.”
Reuters has the scoop:
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook met with Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine during a visit to Los Angeles in late February to find out more about Beats’ “Project Daisy”, a music subscription service the company announced in January but with scant detail, the sources said.
Apple’s Internet products chief Eddy Cue, a key player in setting up its iTunes Music Store, also joined the meeting, at which Cook expressed interest in Daisy’s business model and its rollout plans, although the two did not discuss specifics of a deal, the sources said.
Nothing is really known about Project Daisy right now, other than that it will rely heavily on the Beats brand and deal with music discovery. Beats Audio makes headphones and speakers with celebrity endorsements from artists like Dr. Dre.
Apple’s meeting with Iovine was an “informational” discussion about the music industry as a whole, according to Reuters. Executives from Apple have been meeting with record labels behind closed doors for quite some time.
Iovine has a long history with Apple. Not only is he the CEO of Beats, but he used to run Interscope records. In fact, he was one of the first music executives to partner with iTunes Store back in 2001. In a recent interview, Iovine revealed that he pitched a music subscription service to Steve Jobs around 10 years ago.
The rumor mill is saying that Apple wants to release its new music service sometime this year, but licensing negotiations with the record labels have been keeping the plans from moving forward.
Source: Reuters
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