Starbucks innovative Management starts a New Mode of Music + Coffee

Perhaps we did not expect that it was a chain coffee shop that announced the end of the recording industry and the rise of the winner online streaming media. For busy modern people, coffee shops are increasingly becoming the third space between work and life. Take a nap, talk, date, or work overtime with... If you like a coffee shop, you may just fall in love with the music, and vice versa.

By selling CD and artist selections in stores, it has given the dwindling record industry a shot in the arm and brought tasteful consumer experience. When it decided to stop selling records in stores in February, the media commented on Starbucks' failed music revolution. But the failure is from the record industry, not from Starbucks. Online music subscription service Spotify has announced a long-term partnership with Starbucks: 1000 million Star Card members in 7000 stores across the United States and 60 million Spotify users around the world will have the opportunity to enjoy the "music + coffee" service.

Paid subscribers will be able to get stars by listening to music and exchange for free coffee at Starbucks. Starbucks card members can express their musical opinions on Spotify, thus affecting the repertoire of Starbucks stores. There will also be a Starbucks feature on Spotify, featuring playlists such as "Starbucks' most popular Music of the year".

Starbucks has had a long-standing impact on the music industry. In the digital age when the recording industry began to decline, it was Starbucks that continued the music experience of buying physical records in brick-and-mortar stores. In 1994, Starbucks sold its first Kenny G. Schultz, chairman of Starbucks, said in an interview with FastCompany in 2004: "We firmly believe that we can change the record retailing industry."

Given the number of stores and customer loyalty, selling records at Starbucks is attractive to musicians. Atalantic reported that famous rock musician Paul McCartney was the first musician to abandon EMI and sign with Starbucks on the grounds that the coffee shop paid more attention to innovation in the music industry than his record company.

The shift from selling records to partnering with streaming music shows Starbucks' attitude towards the music industry: according to Sportify's blog, 150000 Starbucks employees across the United States will receive Spotify premium subscriptions first, followed by Canada and the UK. Starting this fall, Starbucks employees will be able to select music from their stores through tools provided by Spotify, and the playlists made by these employees will be opened through Starbucks' mobile app and listened to on Spotify. No matter where you are, you can hear music from your favorite Starbucks store.

The rise of streaming media

Streaming media is not only the general trend of the music industry, but also the hot cake seized by Internet companies such as Google and Apple. However, streaming services pay high copyright fees to record companies, and musicians benefit little from it, and most users prefer to use it for free. A profit model that meets the interests of musicians, record companies, streaming services and users at the same time does not seem to exist. In the case of Sportify, of the 50 million users in December 2014, only 12.5 million paid users.

Since its inception in 2008, Sportify has paid as much as $2 billion for music rights. Paid subscriptions are Sportify's main source of revenue, which is far from enough to cover copyright fees, which has led to Sportify's long-term losses. Record companies hope that streaming services such as Sportify will expand the range of paid services. Data from Warner Records 2015 Q2 show that revenue from streaming has exceeded that from downloading music.

However, the interests of musicians are squeezed by both sides. Starbucks is an ideal spoiler in this scuffle. 'Concerts continue to be a key part of our coffee shop and retail experience, but we will continue to improve the experience to ensure that we provide exactly what our customers need, 'Starbucks said in an interview with Billboard.