Starbucks to sell albums by unknown bands as it expands music operation

by Staff, Brand Republic 05-Apr-05, 12:00

LONDON - Starbucks is to begin selling albums by unknown artists in an expansion of its music retail strategy of only dealing in big-name artists in its coffee stores, beginning with New York indie girl band Antigone Rising.

The move will begin in the US, where Starbucks will for a limited time have the exclusive rights to the first major-label release by the four-piece female band.

The move is another blow for struggling music retailers, who already have to compete with online music downloads.

Starbucks began selling CDs in its stores some time ago, buying its own small label Hear Music in 1999, but stuck to big name artists like Ray Charles and Alanis Morrissette. Starbucks sold more than 700,000 copies of the Grammy-winning Ray Charles CD 'Genius Loves Company', representing a quarter of the total sales.

The coffee giant is also set to be the exclusive outlet for six weeks of an acoustic remake of Morrissette's 'Jagged Little Pill', which was her breakthrough album in the mid 1990s.

The Antigone Rising album 'From the Ground Up' will go on sale at more than 4,400 US Starbucks stores at a cost of $12.95 (£6.90).

Starbucks will share the profits from the album with Lava Records, a division of Warner Music Group. In addition, the retailer will continue to make money from the album when it goes on to be sold elsewhere.

As part of the deal, Starbucks will promote the girl group in-store, playing the album and putting up posters, as well as featuring it on the playlist of its XM Satellite Radio.

Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks' entertainment division, said the move to push an unknown artist was about helping customers discover new music.

"We listen to what our customers are looking for, and they want to discover new music. This launch is going to be received by our customers in a big way."

Starbucks said that music from more new artists would follow the 'From the Ground Up' album.

As well as CDs, Starbucks has had its own download service that it is planning to launch in the UK, also called Hear Music, offering full-length albums or a personalised compilation from a library of about 250,000 songs.

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