The music streaming wars are only just getting started. Today (May 19), Starbucks announced that it will be partnering with Spotify in multi-year deal to combine its popular My Starbucks Reward program with the streaming service.
“For over 40 years, music has played a vital role in Starbucks Third Place experience – inspiring our partners and customers in unexpected ways that have helped to shape the global pop culture. And we are delighted and honored to bring Spotify directly to our customers,” said Howard Schultz, Chairman and Ceo of Starbucks, via a press statement. “Throughout its history, Starbucks has worked closely with the music industry, offering a variety of artists a platform for their work. By connecting Spotify’s world-class streaming platform into our world-class store and digital ecosystem, we are reinventing the way our millions of global customers discover music.”
Expect to start seeing the new partnership between Starbucks, which recently announced it would stop selling physical CDs, and Spotify in the fall. Spotify Premium will be promoted in stores, which will also feature curated playlists (curated by employees, who will all get Premium accounts, and customers) playing in the stores that will also be available via the service.
Starbucks boasts 10 million My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members in the U.S. while Spotify touts north of 60 million global users.
Don’t expect to catch TIDAL delegates Jay Z or Beyonce sipping on a Frappucino anytime soon.
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Photo: Starbucks
