With Starbucks deal Spotify looks to build out streaming music platform

Posted:
in General Discussion edited May 2015
Spotify on Monday announced a joint initiative with Starbucks that will see the world's largest coffeehouse chain stream its music in stores, promote premium Spotify subscription tiers and grant current users access to Starbucks' rewards program.




The multi-year deal aims to create a new music ecosystem that will interconnect 10 million My Starbucks Rewards members with Spotify's 60 million global users.

As part of the deal, Starbucks will promote Spotify Premium in its brick-and-mortar stores, while current subscribers can take advantage of a new "Stars as Currency" rewards system that earns points toward free drinks and other perks. Spotify is the first outside company to gain access to MSR, though it is not yet clear how customers accrue rewards under the new plan.

Interestingly, Starbucks is leaving content programming to employees. The company will supply 150,000 U.S. "partners," otherwise known as Starbucks coffeehouse workers, with Spotify Premium subscriptions to be used for generating in-store playlists. After launching this fall, Spotify users will be able to access these playlists, as well as exclusive an Starbucks music section, via Spotify and Starbucks' mobile apps.

Initially, Starbucks is looking to roll out service at 7,000 U.S. stores, with plans to expand availability to Canada and the UK shortly thereafter. The same goes for employee access to Spotify Premium.

Spotify's Starbucks deal comes amid heated competition in the streaming music industry, including a rumored offering from Apple.

At its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple is widely expected to launch a rebranded version of Beats Music, possibly with exclusive content and lower monthly pricing. Negotiations are ongoing, but Apple is said to be driving hard bargains with record labels in a bid to gain a leg up over the competition.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    citycity Posts: 522member

    Welcome back "Hear Music" stores.

  • Reply 2 of 19
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    Boy, Starbuck's and Apple used to be BFFs. Free Song Of The Week on iTunes, Starbucks card among the first on Passport app. Now Starbuck's is dancing with Spotify, a rival of Beats, and are not playing nice with ?Pay. Was it something we said?
  • Reply 3 of 19
    thewhitefalconthewhitefalcon Posts: 4,453member
    Boy, Starbuck's and Apple used to be BFFs. Free Song Of The Week on iTunes, Starbucks card among the first on Passport app. Now Starbuck's is dancing with Spotify, a rival of Beats, and are not playing nice with ?Pay. Was it something we said?

    More like $$$ changed hands. Spotify is absolutely terrified, which tells me the AppleMusic service is going to be better than I imagined.
  • Reply 4 of 19
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Robin Huber View Post



    Now Starbuck's is dancing with Spotify, a rival of Beats, and are not playing nice with ?Pay.

    How are they not playing nice with ?Pay?

  • Reply 5 of 19
    applezillaapplezilla Posts: 941member

    Desparation. I will drop Spotify the moment Apple's Beats Music happens.

  • Reply 6 of 19
    soundvisionsoundvision Posts: 173member

    Desperation, you're crazy. That's a huge joint venture for both parties and a big win for both. I'm no Spotify fan and definitely excited for Apple has in store, but this is a smart move.

  • Reply 7 of 19
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mac_128 View Post

     

    How are they not playing nice with ?Pay?




    You cannot pay directly with ?Pay. You can only load your Starbucks Card using ?Pay. 

  • Reply 8 of 19
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Desperation, you're crazy. That's a huge joint venture for both parties and a big win for both. I'm no Spotify fan and definitely excited for Apple has in store, but this is a smart move.

    What's wrong with Spotify?
  • Reply 9 of 19
    badmonkbadmonk Posts: 1,286member
    I always thought it would be Apple that would perform this role at Starbucks...oh well they serve shitty coffee anyways.
  • Reply 10 of 19
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Robin Huber View Post

     



    You cannot pay directly with ?Pay. You can only load your Starbucks Card using ?Pay. 




    I think you mean one would use the iOS Starbucks app to pay right?



    It wasn't necessarily Starbuck's fault, but their app has been in the news lately, and not in a flattering way due to people hacking into users' Starbucks rewards accounts and stealing money.  I have zero desire to use their app.  When (if) ApplePay comes to Starbucks, they'll get more of my business.  Until then, it's good-ole-fashioned cash for me.

  • Reply 11 of 19
    pfisherpfisher Posts: 758member

    Spotify is awesome. We used the free version and it is great.

  • Reply 12 of 19
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    sflocal wrote: »

    I think you mean one would use the iOS Starbucks app to pay right?

    Right. It shows up in the Passport app looking like a card.
  • Reply 13 of 19
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    What's wrong with Spotify?



    I meant to quote the person above me. I was saying this is not an act of desperation as he said.

  • Reply 14 of 19
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member

    You cannot pay directly with ?Pay. You can only load your Starbucks Card using ?Pay. 

    I thought the issue was that Starbucks did not have NFC enabled equipment. I would think they wouldn't want to take the charge against the new equipment until they had to. Surely they will accept ?Pay by October when they will have to switch over to new NFC enabled POSTs.

    It'll be interesting to see how merchants like Starbucks will enable chip and pin, whether they will change their POSTs to add a customer accessed terminal, or continue to take the card and offer the customers a pin pad.
  • Reply 15 of 19
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    mac_128 wrote: »
    I thought the issue was that Starbucks did not have NFC enabled equipment. I would think they wouldn't want to take the charge against the new equipment until they had to. Surely they will accept ?Pay by October when they will have to switch over to new NFC enabled POSTs.

    It'll be interesting to see how merchants like Starbucks will enable chip and pin, whether they will change their POSTs to add a customer accessed terminal, or continue to take the card and offer the customers a pin pad.

    It's not about whether the hardware is ABLE to work with ?Pay, it's whether the corporation behind it is willing to give up all that consumer data that they are used to harvesting.
  • Reply 16 of 19
    Interesting development for Spotify there...

    In fact, Spotify has been available in Malaysia for some time but the take up rate is not high as most people here still prefer to download their music... But who knows, if Spotify's tie-up with Starbucks reaches here, things may change?
  • Reply 17 of 19
    bubbaonebubbaone Posts: 11member

    Interesting.  I have been spending a lot of time messing around with my premium Spotify service and I have come to the conclusion that there are some features lacking that I would be willing to pay extra for meaning I would be willing to pay more than $10.00 per month for streaming service if the relaunched Beats had added functionality.

  • Reply 18 of 19
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    It's not about whether the hardware is ABLE to work with ?Pay, it's whether the corporation behind it is willing to give up all that consumer data that they are used to harvesting.
    While I won't discount your conspiratorial reason as a cause for Starbucks lack of adoption of NFC POSTs, mandated by the credit card companies by October of this year, this article confirms what I thought: http://www.bidnessetc.com/34693-starbucks-corporation-app-for-apple-inc-ios-now-supports-apple-pay/

    Starbucks invested heavily in their QR POS systems, as well as their app development. It's going to require another major investment to upgrade their thousands of stores worldwide with NFC Chip & Pin enabled POSTs as well so it's understandable why they are putting off the migration as along as possible. Once those systems are in place and Starbucks actually can accept ?Pay, but still don't, then we can revisit their motivation for not accepting it. But at present, it's a technological impossibility with their current equipment.

    However, I don't see it in their best interest to reject ?Pay and see them supporting it as soon as they have the equipment in place to accept it. Instead they offer value added incentives to use their QR-based app. People will opt to use their Starbucks app because of the rewards it generates. I use my Starbucks App every time I visit a Starbucks because of the rewards it offers, when cash or credit card would often be quicker. Of course if they don't secure their in-house system better, customers are going to drop the app anyway.

    Moreover Apple is reportedly addressing merchants concerns that they can't offer rewards incentives as part of ?Pay transactions, so once that's addressed, there's even less of a reason for Starbucks and others not to accept ?Pay.
  • Reply 19 of 19
    jrg_ukjrg_uk Posts: 64member
    What intrigues me is that Spotify are very clear that their music is not licensed for commercial use, but I think this deal shows that it can be done (sure, you need your - in the UK - PRS & PPL licenses too, but you'd have them anyway for public "performance" of music)
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