Hear Music Record Label

In March, Starbucks teamed up with Concord Music Group to form a new record label, Hear Music. This new label will create relationships directly with recording artists and will distribute records at Starbucks locations, in addition to typical music channels.

Starbucks' Entertainment President, Ken Lombard says, "this announcement is a natural next step in our entertainment strategy. Hear Music will add tremendous value to the content offerings and distribution of great music Starbucks customers have come to expect. Hear Music will seek out unique and compelling artists from a broad range of genres to help them reach the widest audience possible."

Past collaborations between Starbucks Entertainment and Concord Music Group include: Ray Charles' "Genius Loves Company" and Sergio Mendes' "Timeless." Charles album has sold approximately 5.5 million copies worldwide and won eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. Mendes received a Latin Grammy Award for Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album of the Year and has sold nearly a million copies worldwide.

At the end of the month, Starbucks and Concord Music Group announced that Hear Music's inaugural CD release will be from music legend, Paul McCartney. The album is expected to be released early this summer and will be available at all traditional music retail outlets as well as Starbucks locations internationally.

Glen Barros, president and CEO of the Concord Music Group, says, "it is such a privilege to be able to present this amazing new album to the world. I believe that McCartney fans, like myself, will find that this album connects them to everything that they've always loved about Paul, yet also delivers a personal dimension that shows his continued evolution as an artist."

The creation of this new music label will launch Starbucks into a whole new dimension. The company shows that it is not only interested in providing customers with coffee, food, and coffee products, but it hopes to give them more. Starbucks is truly capitalizing on the Starbucks experience. This experience not only relies on the coffee and food, but also the atmosphere. Having Paul McCartney be the first artist to release an album is truly an honor. McCartney is essential in creating buzz for this new venture and will help to make the new label a success.