Starbucks music veep leaves the company. Why?
Starbucks says Don MacKinnon, founder of the Hear Music stores it now owns, has resigned as vice president of its music unit for "personal reasons." There's no doubt an interesting back-story here. One employee tells me that MacKinnon's music tastes are a little too alternative for Starbucks corporate. What are Starbucks employees hearing? ALSO: Starbucks is relocating the music department employees who scout artists to Los Angeles from Seattle so they'll be closer to record labels and musicians. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Any person who "discovered" Antigone Rising has "personal reasons."
Posted by: Boston Starbucks Rebel | March 02, 2006 at 06:24 PM
I think in recent weeks they have been backing a bunch of crud artists...
Posted by: James the Barista | March 02, 2006 at 10:05 PM
yeah Sam Cooke sucks
Posted by: | March 03, 2006 at 04:55 AM
As A Shift Supervisor, I would love to get in on this BLOG
So much as for informative reasons, as well as to just b/&c%
about whats on my mind as well. Anyone know how to post a comment? DJPROGRAM@MSN.COM
Posted by: Antonio | March 03, 2006 at 05:33 AM
What have I "heard"?
Well, yesterday I heard the new Opus series CD for Hendrix. No seriously, we got a Hendrix CD in yesterday.
That may offset the Antagon izing CD a little bit, but I can't wait to see what happens when My partners start blaring Foxey Lady.
Add this to the recent releases for The Isleys and Sly, and I could see where someone might start to question his choices. Don't get me wrong, I love all three, and keep hoping that this trend is going to lead to a George Clinton CD, but when those lists are playing, we get more requests to turn it down than with other lists (aside from the one with 5 versions of Mas Que Nada on it).
Posted by: QC Latte | March 03, 2006 at 06:45 AM
I've nevr seen our partners as excited about a CD as they have been with the new Sergio Mendes Timeless CD. It really cooks. Unfortuneately I don't think the majority of our customers get it, or are able to jive with it.(due to their average age and socio-economic background) We've been recieving some pretty hip music lately in the store which for my own enjoyment sake I hope continues. And I'm so relieved that they stopped pushing the Antigone...ugghhh what a torturesome ordeal that marketing blitz was. Now if there was only a way we could permanently delete it from our music system....hey we all have dreams.
Posted by: Sanani Johnny | March 03, 2006 at 07:48 AM
I like the diversity they put out there because while every single barista at my store hated Antigone I have had at least 20 customers tell me that they loved that CD and it was actually pretty amazing as far as the Starbucks release goes.
Again, I say nothing about its musical quality.
I do like being able to have something to suggest to everyone. The new Beth Orton or the older Norah Jones' Artists Choice, they all cater to different audiences.
And as far as Sam Cooke? Wow, that's almost like saying Chopin wrote terrible sonatas.
The one thing I miss like no other is the Playlist CD's. One, Two, and Three were amazing. Think -- Iron & Wine in 2004 (way before they got any exposure), Wilco (been around for years but got a big boost), James Blunt (whose CD we now sell), Hayden (a little known Canadian artist whose CD sales are booming), and Feist (a wonderful indie breakoff who they've put on 4 cd/tapes/xm transmissions to date). They were just good "in the background" CD's.
Posted by: Lauren | March 06, 2006 at 08:38 AM
LAuren, not arguing about the quality of the music. Bigger problem is those daggumed HD music players we have. They contain priority tags for a few playlists which are supposed to be getting airplay during "peak" times. Unfortunately, once it cycles through the 5 or so playlists that have been deemed A-list, its internal clock tells it it's time to start over on it again. So anyhing else on the drive will only come up if a partner goes back and changes it.
That unfortunately starts the whole a-list over. And this month it's particularly bad. I may have heard the new Beth Orton playlist once or twice, but the Mendes and "LAtin Support" playlists are way too overpowering.
Heck, today I came out of the backroom and one of the 5 versions of Mas Que NAda was on. In the next 45 minutes I heard two other versions. Went back, put on the Johnny Cash artist's choice list. Great! 45 minutes later, I was listening to Mas Que Nada with the Black Eyed Peas...again. And it was like that for every update for the past six or seven months.
Lauren, if there were a way to tap into the diversity that these music systems hold (as you've noted), it would provide a great backdrop for our customers' experience. As it is, anyone who is there more than 45 minutes or so risks heating repeats.
...and for the record, I'm a huge fan of the R&B/Soul playlist. Not just because it's two hours long, but because I always catch our guests humming along with it.
Posted by: QC Latte | March 06, 2006 at 04:01 PM
It's because it's awesome. It came mostly off of the "I'll Take You There" offering which is awesome.
But, dear, there are some other things to consider. Note that I said, cd/tape/xm -- that's because depending on the age of your store you have different mechanisms. I now work at one of the first 300 and we haven't gotten our remodel yet and we still use TAPES. Which means a) we have complete control and b) unlike the cd systems they don't expire. Heck I found myself blasting a little of the Beck summer tape tonight as we closed.
Good thing we're so ghetto we don't have outside speakers.
Also does anyone else hear the Mario theme in one of the Sergio tunes? I do to no end and it's driving me up the walls.
Posted by: Lauren | March 06, 2006 at 09:52 PM
best name for a title ever:
jamaican me crazy!
(and it was a pretty cool playlist too!)
best tape ever:
the 25th anniversary one, (no CDs then..)
with the grateful dead, steppenwolf, janis joplin and a crazy assortment of 70's stars...
memories.
good thing i'm too old a store to have the newest in satalite radio!
Posted by: | March 07, 2006 at 07:48 PM
at my old store, we still had the tapes too. that was cool. we used to bring in a tape adaptor and play our iPods during the evening....ah, the good old days.
Posted by: CuteBarista! | March 10, 2006 at 07:11 AM
You can fix the HD music player problem pretty easily. Here is the url for the fix:
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@2032053134.1142018161@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdjaddhemlifgjcgelceffdfgidglm.0&MID=9876
You will also need a couple of wire nuts, a mini-jack from radio shack, and on old CD player/ mp3 player...
Posted by: | March 10, 2006 at 11:27 AM
My boyfriend and I will be there drink the mocha lates. Our favorite hot drink to relax.....
Posted by: isabel | March 13, 2006 at 03:15 PM
Don McKinnon was the guy that started hear music and had the same vision as those of us who love music, to share it with others. Sound familiar Howard? Coffee? The coffeehouse experience?
Others may not always like it, (I despised the Antigone Rising effort) but he was all about the discovery of intelligent emerging artists and unexposed music. To me, in a crowded industry lacking credibility, that's cool. Unfortunately, it looks as if the discovery element is now being traded for profit-only interests from Ken Lombard and Anne Saunders. What a shame. Sure, they may be hob nobbing with big artists, maybe have a couple of more red carpet parties in LA and Austin, but they'll lose that respected editorial voice - quick.
Hats off to Don for starting Hear Music out of his college dorm room, and hats off to the Hear Music team for all the great work over the last 8 years. If the senior executives weren't listening to Don, they weren't listening to the millions of music consumers, (core and passive listeners alike) becuase Don understood them, or at the very least, what they appreciated about music at Starbucks.
Let's not forget, greed is what put the music industry in the state it faces today. Unfortunately, that's precisely what Don was witnessing inside Starbucks.
Wow, what a huge loss for the company, both in personnel and in principal.
Posted by: Shane McGowen | March 13, 2006 at 03:38 PM
Which song is the Mario theme in the Sergio song. I'll listen it tomorrow. Although in my store, it is not a complete day unless we have listen to Mr. Dave Matthews at least once. The customers really enjoy it because alot of them grew up listening to him and his band. They comment, "Oh I just love Dave."
Posted by: Boston Starbucks Rebel | March 13, 2006 at 05:36 PM
u could put a new store in Northport, New York village. there is NO coffee presently there. the closest ones are in Huntington village about 20 minutes drive and elwood about 15-20 minutes. Nothport is also very busy "on the water" tourist town during the summer months, lots of shops in the winter. people would welcome a coffee.
Posted by: tom | March 14, 2006 at 12:41 PM
Finally Starbucks releases some killer music in the Jimi Hendrix CD. I know its doing well in my neighborhood store and the song section is good, definitely will give Jimi novices something heavy to digest while sipping their lattes!
Posted by: Evan Weber | March 20, 2006 at 12:28 PM