Starbucks To Stop Selling CDs At The End Of March, But Who Cares?
A definite sign of the times, we won’t be able to get your CD with your favorite coffee anymore! Yeap, Starbucks will stop selling CDs at the end of next month. According to Billboard, the corporate chain, which has opened a coffee place at each strategic corner of every city, obviously took this decision based on the current market:
‘We will stop selling physical CDs in our stores at the end of March,’ said a rep for the coffee chain. ‘Starbucks continually seeks to redefine the experience in our retail stores to meet the evolving needs of our customers. Music will remain a key component of our coffeehouse and retail experience, however we will continue to evolve the format of our music offerings to ensure we’re offering relevant options for our customers. As a leader in music curation, we will continue to strive to select unique and compelling artists from a broad range of genres we think will resonate with our customers.’
Of course nobody was buying these CDs anymore, even though they were stuck in front of customers’ eyes when they were paying for their latte, so what was the point to continue? To expose CDs for decor? Starbucks started selling music when they acquired Hear Music in 1999, and at this point, they tried to play with the concept we-are-that-coffee-house-with-famous-songwriters, launching a few exclusive music releases in partnership with Concord Music Group, and including albums by prestigious musicians such as Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell and Alanis Morissette…
Let me remember about the last times I went to Starbucks, I saw the Decemberists and Bob Dylan’s last albums, Lady Gaga may be and Beck’s ‘Morning Phase’ of course… But did I ever buy a CD there? No, and I have never seen anyone buy one either! I just wonder who are these buyers, people who stop by Starbuck for their morning cappuccino and say to themselves, oh why not a bit of Taylor Swift or Frozen to go with this? And they decide to buy a CD that is worth the price of 3 cups of their favorite coffee. It’s simply not how I see and consume music… I am proud to say that I have never bought a CD elsewhere than in a real record store, Walmart and Best Buy can go to hell! But of course I don’t really buy CDs anymore…. Still I will continue to appreciate Starbucks’ ‘Song of the week’ cards as they will continue to release these, so that we are still able to legally steal a few new songs.
