RSSStarbucks to Give Away 50 Million iTunes Tracks
By Ed Oswald | Published September 24, 2007, 11:54 AM
Starbucks said Monday that it plans to give away about 50 million songs from iTunes as part of a promotion to drum up interest in its wireless music service that will debut soon.
The popular coffee shop is about to launch the feature in its Seattle and New York locations on October 2, and in San Francisco during the month of November. When browsing the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store near a Starbucks, users will be able to view -- and download -- the currently playing song as well as the last ten played.
The service will expand to all stores with wireless access by 2009, according to statements from both Apple and Starbucks.
About 1.5 million music cards will be given out per day in all of the company's 10,000 US stores from October 2 through November 7. Each will allow users to download a special "Song of the Day" at no cost from iTunes.
Artists to be featured include Hear Music artists Paul McCartney and Joni Mitchell, as well as Dave Matthews, Annie Lennox, and John Mayer among others. The first song will be "Joker Man" by Bob Dylan, and a new song will be given away each day.
Beginning the same day, the company also debuts special cards that allow users to download the full album and bonus material from two artists, KT Tunstall and the Into the Wild soundtrack, as well as a special Starbucks card that also includes two free iTunes downloads when registering online.
The latest announcement continues a strong partnership between the two companies which first started when the coffee shop's Hear Music section debuted on iTunes in October of last year.
I agree with Hollywood__, however there is the problem with licensing (the greedy big recording companies) and I think that at the end of the day that will cost them dearly...
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It's all just 1's and 0's over a copper wire, they're not giving away sh!t ..... it's all electrons baby.
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Paul MCartney, Bob Dylan, Joni Freakin' Mitchell, et al. You're gonna love this kids!
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