Starbucks plays next 'card' in music business

Beginning next month Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) is planning to distribute 50 million free digital songs from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iTunes Store in promotion of the new iTunes wireless service that will be debuting in select markets, reported Billboard.biz this afternoon. Some may say that this is not a good sign, but it is certainly a logical one, at least in terms of Starbucks' move into the music business full time this year.

The step had to be expected, given the huge success Starbucks has had with its initial forays into the music business. Consider the windfall the company enjoyed with Paul McCartney, who put out his latest album on Starbucks' own Hear Music label. Hopes are high that the new Joni Mitchell album from Hear Music will enjoy similar success after it is released tomorrow.

Then the promotion begins in the wake of the recent Starbucks-Apple deal to allow "iPhone and new iPod Touch users the ability to download songs playing in a Starbucks shop directly to their portable devices." Patrons will be able to download that hot tune directly onto their laptops.

Although the service might appear to be a ploy to bring in consumers and drive coffee sales, it should also be noted for what it is: promotion of new Apple products, its iTunes Store, and Starbucks' own Hear Music. CD sales are never going to come back, and Starbucks, in all its coffee-fueled expansion, apparently can see the future of music. It's all so synergistic. Credit Starbucks with doing it right.