Starbucks' next partnership in the music world will be with Antigone Rising, a new all-female quintet signed to American label Lava. The coffee chain will sell a specially recorded album via its 4400 US stores. It is an interesting development for the coffee chain's ambitions in the music space given that its past projects have been with established artists like Ray Charles and Alanis Morrisette. If the project is successful for Antigone Rising, who will release their proper debut album later this year, Starbucks will find themselves sitting on a valuable promotion platform likely to be much sought after by record label execs.
Commenting on the project to the New York Times Starbucks entertainment head Ken Lombard confirmed he saw his company as a possible key player in the promotion of breaking artists: "You can talk to any number of label executives, and the one thing they will tell you is they are void of a quality option to break new artists".