Starbucks now offering free songs, e-books

Starbucks is adding a venti-sized dollop of free books, news and entertainment to its Internet offerings starting Wednesday.

The coffee chain’s new digital network promises customers free
e-books, movies and other exclusives, including free access to some paid websites such as The Wall Street Journal, is meant to get customers spending more on drinks and content they buy through the site.

The move comes as Starbucks faces steep competition from
McDonald’s Corp. and other fast-food chains pushing increasingly
fancy coffee drinks. But it also offers Starbucks a chance to make
money by selling songs, e-books and other material to customers who linger over its free Wi-Fi, which saw 30 million log-ins last
month.

Starbucks Corp. started offering free wireless Internet access
in July. The new network, a partnership with Yahoo, is the next
step in its strategy.

Customers will see the network as soon as they connect to
Starbucks’ Internet on their smart phones, computer or tablets,
such as the iPad. A welcome page allows customers to scroll through various sections including entertainment, wellness, business and careers, and “my neighborhood,” where they can find community news, restaurant reviews and more.

Other partners also include Apple Inc.’s iTunes, The New York
Times, Patch, USA Today and Zagat. The offerings include advance
copies of books, through deals with publishers such as
HarperCollins and Penguin Group books, and iTunes downloads.   

Most of the free content — from movies to books and news — can
be read or viewed only in Starbucks. The content was designed so it
could be consumed in small doses, anywhere from five minutes to 20 minutes.

That way, people either want to buy the content outright to take
with them, or return to Starbucks again. The sites were designed to
remember where people leave off in a book or a movie, so picking it
back up is seamless.

 When customers buy the content, say a newspaper subscription or
an e-book, Starbucks makes money by taking a cut of the sale. The
company declined to specify its share.   

The companies designed the site and its content to be consumed
in smaller bits after observing customers, said Burke Culligan,
vice president of product management at Yahoo. 

 “Users across the Internet are moving more into this ’snackable
behavior’ to begin with,” he said.   

The company, based in Seattle, worked to get content its
customers wouldn’t find anywhere else so people have a reason to go to Starbucks beyond the coffee, said Adam Brotman, vice president of Starbucks Digital Ventures.   

Through iTunes, Starbucks will offer free music downloads,
including a new digital way to download the coffee chain’s free
song of the week. Previously, people had to pick up cards with
codes in stores. Now, they log on, click a few buttons and get the
song, which can be played outside of stores.

The network also offers books through the “Bookish Reading
Club” (a partnership with publishers HarperCollins, Penguin Group
and more) and films through SnagFilms. In both cases, the content
often is released on the network before its official release.

Plans call for other kinds of shopping to be added but will be
rolled out farther down the road.