The Starbucks music playlist at your local franchise might be background noise most of the time, but if you’ve ever heard a groovy song or two playing and thought to yourself, “I wonder what it is?” Starbucks will let you know. Instead of bothering a busy barista you can now find the information right inside the Starbucks app. The company announced Tuesday it is launching a deeper partnership with Spotify to help users find and save the songs they hear inside their local Starbucks.
“Starbucks shares our passion for music and desire to create the best, personalized experience for users and customers,” said Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify on Starbucks’ official blog. “Together with Starbucks, we’re creating a unique new digital music experience that offers Starbucks customers and Spotify users the ability to discover even more music at Starbucks and enjoy that same music and more on Spotify, whenever they want and wherever they are.”
The feature, which is available to both paid and free Spotify users, allows Starbucks customers to save songs they hear and like in the store to a playlist in Spotify. To save the song, all users have to do is open the Starbucks app, tap on the gold bar at the bottom of the app homepage that shows what’s playing, and up pops a picture of the album cover, title, and song name along other useful info. If you like the song, you can press the heart to let Spotify know you enjoyed it. You can also share it on social media, or tap the Save to Spotify button to save it for later. The new feature also allows users to browse recently played songs and Starbucks playlists created by in-house baristas.
While the new Spotify integration feature ultimately seeks to get Starbucks customers using the app more, meanwhile boosting Spotify’s user base, it nonetheless speaks to the ongoing importance of music to the Starbucks brand.
For more than 20 years CDs have been a part of Starbucks stores, always conveniently placed next to the register and providing exposure for dozens of established and up-and-coming artists.
In more recent years the company has continued to place music at the center of its customer engagement strategy. Starbucks offers free music tracks each week on iTunes for customers who log in to the app or grab a redeem code in store.
Starbucks is emphasizing good music to the folks who make the brews, too. In 2015, when Starbucks and Spotify first announced their partnership , the company offered Premium Spotify subscriptions to their baristas to help them discover music and get involved in choosing the songs that would be played in the Starbucks where they worked. These playlists are now starting to be compiled into special “Store Favorites” playlists that customers will be able to explore on Spotify.
Starbucks has high hopes that the new platform will continue to show the customers the company’s passion for good music and great coffee.
“Music has played a pivotal role in our stores for over 40 years,” said Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks. “Today is the next era in that experience. We are merging the physical and digital, providing new access points for Spotify as they continue to grow globally, placing more control into our customers’ hands and giving artists the world’s largest stage for them to share their talent.”
To learn more about Starbuck’s latest Spotify app integration, check out the full press release, here or see the FAQ sheet on the feature, here.
