macnn/ipodnn
06/25/2008, 11:15am, EDT
Wednesday, June 25th
Starbucks to drop iTunes promotions?
Starbucks Coffee will drop most of its music efforts by September, reports say. Indications are said to point to the company doing away with its full-sized CD racks, reducing selection to just four "slots" per store. Critically for Apple, it is believed the company will also drop all iTunes promotions, including gift cards and any special track offers. The one remaining Apple connection will be free Internet access for the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store.
Starbucks is said to be experiencing severe problems in its music business, with distribution handed over from its own label to the Concord Music Group, and the New York Times reporting that each shop has been selling an average of two CDs per day. Despite this the company claims that it has been selling over 4 million CDs annually.
Filed under: iPod, iPhone, industry
Other story tags: iTunes, music, Starbucks
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Numbers add up.
There are about 6800 company-owned Starbucks in the US. If each sold 2 CDs a day, 365 days a year, that would account for 4.9 million discs per year.
The article "Despite this the company claims that it has been selling over 4 million CDs annually." as if the numbers don't add up. It looks like they do add up, and these numbers are abysmal.
iTunes and Starbucks
People do not go CD shopping at Starbucks and Uncle Howie knows this. He is trying to restore the brand and CD sales do not matter as much as coffee sales. Think about how many people own laptops with their entire music library and the iTunes wifi store sounds like a better option even if they cannot keep track of who bought what from Starbucks stores.
To increase music...
...cd volume, Starbucks should raise the cost of it's coffee two or three bucks and include a FREE cd. If someone is willing to pay for a four buck coffee, surely a six or seven dollar coffee would be priced insignificantly!