Starbucks Teams Up with Spotify to Create “Music Ecosystem”

Although Starbucks stopped selling CD’s, music still is very much a part of their plans.

Starbucks recently announced that they are teaming up with Spotify to connect the Spotify music streaming service with the 10 million members of the Starbucks loyalty program, letting customers influence in-store playlists in the new digital “ecosystem.”

According to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz,  he communicated the following in a statement.

“By connecting Spotify’s world-class streaming platform into our world-class store and digital ecosystem, we are reinventing the way our millions of global customers discover music.”

Customers will be able to listen to and influence specially curated in-store Starbucks playlists on Spotify.  The music doesn’t stop after the customers leave the store either. They will be able to continue to listen to playlists after they leave the stores, either through the Starbucks or Spotify apps.

Spotify customers will also be able to earn Starbucks reward points, called”Stars as Currency”and this will be the first time that Starbucks loyalty points will be available outside its own stores.

The multi-year partnership will be phased in starting this summer at U.S. Starbucks stores, followed by stores in the U.K. and Canada.