Starbucks Turns Up Volume On Spotify Partnership

Starbucks has launched a new digital music experience with Spotify, allowing Starbucks Mobile App customers to immediately save the music they discover playing in store, and save the the songs to a playlist on Spotify.  This first-of-its kind music experience reaches customers at more than 7,500 Starbucks company-operated stores in the U.S., 10 million My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members, and U.S. Spotify users.

“Music has played a pivotal role in our stores for over forty years and we have been at the forefront of how to integrate it into a retail environment,” said Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks. “Today is the next era in that experience. We are merging the physical and digital, providing new access points for Spotify as they continue to grow globally, placing more control into our customers’ hands and giving artists the world’s largest stage for them to share their talent.”

The new Starbucks music platform is available to both iPhone and Android users within Starbucks Mobile App, offering customers the personalized experience they have come to expect from both companies. In addition to being able to discover music playing overhead at a participating Starbucks store, Starbucks Mobile App users will now be able to view recently played songs, save songs to a personal playlist on Spotify, “Love” songs to influence future Starbucks playlists as well as share these songs on social networks and “Play on Spotify.” Spotify users can also find new playlists from Starbucks as well as Starbucks most popular music from the past 20 years on Spotify. These features are accessible on Spotify’s Free and Premium services.

“Starbucks shares our passion for music and desire to create the best, personalized experience for users and customers,” said Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify. “Together with Starbucks, we’re creating a unique new digital music experience that offers Starbucks customers and Spotify users the ability to discover even more music at Starbucks and enjoy that same music and more on Spotify, whenever they want and wherever they are.

”Starting in January, Starbucks will also begin a new weekly feature in the Starbucks app highlighting both established and emerging artists, as well as curated playlists giving musicians a new way to reach millions of customers across the U.S. Starbucks partners have also begun influencing the music played in their stores by choosing from a variety of Starbucks curated playlists and creating “Store Favorites” playlist. This is made possible via a mobile app, powered by a new, PlayNetwork CURIO hardware device that delivers branded entertainment and media to retail stores.

For more than four decades, Starbucks has built a differentiated third place experience with music at the heart of its coffeehouse culture. In 1994, the entertainment team began selecting original CDs spanning a diversity of musical genres and geographies. This program has spotlighted the careers of artists such as the late John Lennon, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt, among many others. Bob Dylan, Yo-Yo Ma, the Rolling Stones and Ray Charles are among the legends who identified their favorite recordings for Starbucks Artist Choice series. Starbucks seasonal CDs have celebrated moments ranging from Valentine’s Day to summer road trips to holiday festivities. Starbucks has also become a champion of once emerging artists such as John Legend, Madeleine Peyroux and Fleet Foxes, introducing customers to these musicians at an early point in their careers.

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