Planet Starbucks
It's awesome indeed, this new-concept music store on the trendy Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California. It's a beautiful space with warm lighting and wood paneling -- a place where you can buy regular old CDs, or linger with a drink while you listen to music and sift through thousands of songs stored in a computer database to create your very own personalized, mixed-CD masterpiece. In about five minutes, a freshly burned CD, complete with your chosen title and funky artwork on both the disc and the jacket (plus liner notes!) will be ready to take home. It all happens very smoothly, and yet it's a novel and startling experience. But what's most startling about this remarkable new place to buy music is this: It's a Starbucks.1
Howard Schultz, the chairman of starbucks, has huge plans for the company. Sounds to me like aggressive, forward-thinking business tactics that deserve respect, no matter how much the overabundance of neighborhood starbucks is plaguing my city.
He hopes record labels will develop proprietary material just for the Starbucks network. And that Starbucks itself may help break new artists and develop original material. Indeed, Howard Schultz plans nothing less than to turn the entire music industry upside down.
A noble goal, especially considering the antiquated structure of today's music industry. Granted, it will be interesting to see just how a megacorporation will go about turning an industry already run by bloated megacorporations upside down.
Howard Schultz, the chairman of starbucks, has huge plans for the company. Sounds to me like aggressive, forward-thinking business tactics that deserve respect, no matter how much the overabundance of neighborhood starbucks is plaguing my city.
He hopes record labels will develop proprietary material just for the Starbucks network. And that Starbucks itself may help break new artists and develop original material. Indeed, Howard Schultz plans nothing less than to turn the entire music industry upside down.
A noble goal, especially considering the antiquated structure of today's music industry. Granted, it will be interesting to see just how a megacorporation will go about turning an industry already run by bloated megacorporations upside down.