Hear Music

Hear Music is the brand name of Starbucks' retail music concept. Hear Music began as a catalog company in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1990 before being purchased by Starbucks in 1999.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Hear Music brand currently has three components: the music that each location plays and accompanying XM radio channel (XM 75); in-store CD sales, including Starbucks exclusives; and specially-branded retail stores (which opened shortly after the catalog was formed).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As of May 2005, there are two Starbucks Hear Music Coffeehouses: Santa Monica, California on the Third Street Promenade and Miami, Florida in South Beach. There is also a Hear Music Store in Berkeley, California. Forty-five Starbucks locations also have a Hear Music "media bar," a service which uses tablet-based PCs to allow customers to create their own mix CDs. The media bars are currently located in Seattle and in Austin, Texas.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Currently, Starbucks is one of the top 40 music-oriented retailers and has flourished selling music. Its biggest success was Ray Charles' Grammy-winning "Genius Loves Company," where 2.86 million records were sold in total; 25% of those were sold at Starbucks locations.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2005, Starbucks announced a partnership with singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette. In an exclusive six-week deal, Morissette announced that she would retail an acoustic version of Jagged Little Pill in Starbucks stores only. The acoustic version was released on June 13, 2005 in order to celebrate the groundbreaking album's tenth anniversary.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In response to this move, HMV stores launched a boycott against Morissette, removing all of her music from their catalogue and returning it to Maverick Records. The boycott is expected to end after Starbucks' exclusive six-week contract ends on July 26, 2005.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The music section in Chapters, a Canadian retail chain, was at one time a licensed version of the Hear Music concept. The company no longer uses the brand name.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Starbucks: For other meanings of the name "Starbuck", see Starbuck....

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge is a city in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. It was named in honor of Cambridge, England, the town where its founding fathers had studied (at Cambridge University). Cambridge is most famous for the two prominent universities that call it home: Harvard University an...

XM: XM may stand for:...

Hear Music related Images and Photos (experimental)

Music	Music	Music	Music
Music I	Music IV	Music III	Music Man, The (DVD) (Rpkg)
Music Room	Music Trio	Music Room	Music Green