Months after ditching the sale of CDs in its stores, Starbucks has made an announcement about its partnership with the Swedish music streaming service Spotify.
The music streaming company will offer first class service to Starbucks’ 150, 000 workers in the United States, allowing them the opportunity to create their own special playlists for its 7, 000 stores.
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Starbucks in turn will promote Spotify’s premium service, for $9.99-a-month, partly by making the playlists accessible on the coffee chain’s smartphone app.
The coffee chain will then roll out the service in stores in Canada and the UK.
The partnership will mark the first time that Starbucks will connect its loyalty system to a third party , with Spotify clients given the opportunity to win “stars” and amenities at the chain.
The two companies are “reinventing the way our millions of global customers discover music”, Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz said on Monday.
“Given the evolution of the music industry and the proliferation of streaming technology, it was natural we would partner with Spotify to offer customers a new way to engage with their favorite music, ” added Starbucks president Kevin Johnson.
Starbucks was once seen by the music industry as offering it magnificent potential to sell CD’s, with choices made available on racks as clients waited for their espressos.
In 2004, Starbucks additionally offered in select stores CD burning services, permitting clients to select tracks to make their own particular CDs.
In March, Starbucks stopped selling CDs, saying just that it was looking for new opportunities.
In 2014, streaming overtook CD sales in revenue generation for the first time in the US, by far the world’s largest music market.
CDs remain the best choice in Germany and Japan, while Nordic nations have adjusted to music streaming.
