Just
read on Yahoo! that Starbucks is set to begin offering CD's by relatively
unknown artists at their 4,400 U.S. stores. CD's from Lava Records all-female
group Antigone Rising will soon be available for $12.95 each at your neighborhood
Starbucks. It will be sold there exclusively for an undetermined period
of time. The CD will also be played on Starbucks' XM Satellite Radio
station.
Now, here's the interesting part of the deal (to
me anyway...) -- according to the article, Starbucks will continue to
benefit from sales of the CD 'even if the album goes on to be sold
elsewhere' (that according to Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks' entertainment
division).
I like this idea on so many levels, especially its potential for breaking new
artists. Major record labels get the benefit of someone with whom to
share the risks (and the rewards... hey, a major label release isn't
cheap folks and the high cost prevents lots of great music from getting to the
masses).
Finally, there's the potential new revenue source for companies who, until now,
could care less about the business of music. Here's an example -- what's
to stop American Airlines from negotiating a deal with RCA Nashville to place a
new country artist's CD on their flights? Passengers plug in their
headphones and listen, like what they hear, buy the CD, and a company that
could use the easy revenue picks up a few extra dollars per flight.
Sounds like a win-win-win-win proposition to me.
(Disclaimer: my wife works
for AA -- trust me, they need the money to offset those fuel prices!)
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