Hear Music, the joint record label venture between Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Concord Music Group, has signed its first "developing artist" in Hilary McRae, reports Billboard. McRae's first album for the label is not due until next spring, but her song "Consider Me Gone" is the Starbucks Song of the Day for November 1. Billboard also notes that Hear Music plans to "release records by eight artists in the next year, but all of the signings remain under wraps for the time being."

McRae is the first "new" artist to join Hear Music's repertoire, following in the wake of legendary musicians like Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, and James Taylor. It will be interesting to see how Starbucks and Hear Music market an unknown artist, one without the years of popularity and large fan base that the label's signings to date bring with them. Assuming the Song of the Day program is successful, Starbucks will at least get McRae's name to coffee drinkers. Unfortunately, that's where the comfort of a well-known artist's career comes in handy.

Hear Music has had a very successful first year, starting in June with the company's first release, Paul McCartney's Memory Almost Full, which went to #3 in the Billboard 200 and sold 161,000 copies in its first week. In September, Joni Mitchell's Shine debuted at #14 in the same chart -- not bad either. Both of those albums featured heavy promotion and were played all day long in Starbucks stores. There is no doubt that McRae's first album will enjoy the same treatment when it is released, but for Hear Music, this is more than just artist development.