Wednesday, May 20, 2015 6:01am ET by  
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Starbucks announces Spotify partnership

Just a few months after scrapping CDs from its shelves, international coffee chain Starbucks has announced a new partnership with online music streaming service Spotify. 

Starbucks’ U.S. company-owned locations will roll out this new initiative first and will be followed shortly by stores in both Canada and the United Kingdom. It has also been confirmed that Starbucks' 150,000 employees in the USA will receive a Spotify Premium subscription and this gesture will extend to staff members in Canada and the UK later in the year. 

This exciting new partnership will see My Starbucks Rewards members gaining access to Starbucks' music on Spotify along with the ability to influence in-store playlists. Starbucks staff members will curate the in-store music programming and their playlists will then be accessible on Spotify via the Starbucks Mobile App. 

Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, said in a statement: “Spotify has powered more than 25 billion hours of listening around the world so far, and we’re looking forward to creating unique in-store music experiences while also making more than 20 years of popular Starbucks music available to both Starbucks customers and Spotify’s 60 Million global music fans.”

Kevin Johnson, president and COO of Starbucks, added: “We plan on building one of the most robust digital ecosystems of any retailer in the world. Given the evolution of the music industry and the proliferation of streaming technology, it was natural that we would partner with Spotify in offering our customers a new way to engage with their favourite music."

“Starbucks ability to innovate with partners such as Spotify, creating new ways and platforms to engage with our customers, will afford us unprecedented interconnectivity across all of our capabilities, and provide new access points for Spotify as they continue to grow globally.”

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