Another revenue source for Starbucks: compilation CDs
Starbucks has a quiet success growing inhouse in its CD sales according to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
Last year, Starbucks stores sold Norah Jones's debut CD well before she burst onto the national scene, taking home five Grammy Awards earlier this year. She even gave a live performance at an Austin, Texas, Starbucks. The chain's first CD, "Blue Note Blend," a compilation featuring Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, sold 40,000 copies in its first six weeks -- a rate that probably would have pushed it into the top 10 of the Billboard jazz charts if it had been tracked as a traditional album.
Promoting music like never before, Starbucks this year plans to release 16 original CDs and seven reissues -- up from four CDs in 1995, the year it started selling music. For several days in March, Starbucks was the only major retailer selling the compilation CD of music that influenced the Rolling Stones. Last week, Starbucks released a similar inspiration CD from Sheryl Crow. Next up: Tony Bennett.