Hear Music was a record label that was founded in 2007 in a partnership betweenConcord Music Group andStarbucks. Hear Music began as a catalog company inCambridge, Massachusetts, in 1990 before being purchased byStarbucks in 1999.

Hear Music
Parent company	Concord Music Group andStarbucks
Founded	1990 (as catalog company) 2007 (2007) (as record label)
Status	Defunct[1]
Distributor(s)	Concord Music Group
Genre	Rock, pop
Country of origin	U.S.
Official website	Official site

The Hear Music brand had four components: the music that each location played; in-store CD sales, including Starbucks exclusives; branded retail stores, which opened shortly after the catalog was formed, and a label which distributed their recordings.

As of December 2006, there were fourStarbucks Hear Music Coffeehouses: Santa Monica, California, on theThird Street Promenade; San Antonio, Texas, on theRiver Walk; Miami, Florida, on theLincoln Road shopping promenade; and Bellevue, Washington, inBellevue Square.^[2] The original, now-defunct Hear Music Store was located inBerkeley, California. Ten Starbucks locations also had Hear Music "media bars," a service which uses tablet PCs to allow customers to create their own mix CDs. The media bars were located in Seattle and in Austin, Texas. The music section in Canadian bookstore chainChapters was at one time a licensed version of the Hear Music concept; however, the company no longer uses the brand name.

Their biggest seller wasRay Charles' Grammy-winningGenius Loves Company, with sales of 2.86 million records; 25% of those were sold at Starbucks locations.

In 2005, Starbucks announced a partnership with singer/songwriterAlanis Morissette. In a six-week deal, Morissette sold an acoustic version ofJagged Little Pill in Starbucks stores only. The acoustic version was released on June 13, 2005, to mark the album's tenth anniversary. This limited availability led to a dispute betweenMaverick Records andHMV Canada, who retaliated by removing Morissette's other albums from store shelves for the duration of Starbucks' exclusive sale.

In April 2008, Starbucks announced that it was refining its entertainment strategy and turning over the day-to-day management of Hear Music toConcord.^[3]

At the same time that Starbucks closed 600 coffeehouses in July 2008, it was announced that the Hear Music label would be shutting down.^[3] One of the four Hear Music stores, in Santa Monica, California, indicated that its music operation would be permanently closed approximately September 20, 2008. Another Hear Music store in Bellevue, Washington was converted to a regular Starbucks. The Lincoln Road Miami Beach location was downgraded as well, since November 2008.

On March 12, 2007, Starbucks andConcord Music Group launched the Hear Music record label.^[4][5] The company's first artist signing wasPaul McCartney, leaving his long-time labelEMI on March 21, 2007.^[6]

In July 2007, the label signedJoni Mitchell and announced that her first album of new material in nearly ten years,Shine, would be released on September 25, 2007.^[7]

In March 2008, it was announced thatCarly Simon had signed with the label and would be releasing a new album entitledThis Kind of Love in late April 2008, her first collection of original songs since 2000'sThe Bedroom Tapes.^[8] She blamed poor sales on Hear Music's failure to promote the album. She sued the company and lost.^[9]

• Anjulie
• Antigone Rising
• The Cars
• The Chieftains
• Elvis Costello
• James Hunter
• Carole King
• Paul McCartney
• John Mellencamp
• Hilary McRae
• Joni Mitchell
• Playing for Change
• Sia
• Paul Simon
• Carly Simon
• Sonic Youth
• James Taylor^[10]

• Hear Music|The Sound of StarbucksArchived 2009-10-20 at theWayback Machine