Spotify and Starbucks team up to let you pick songs playing in stores and more

Next time you head into Starbucks, the music may reflect your barista’s mood.

In a partnership with Spotify, all 15,000-plus Starbucks employees in the US will receive Spotify Premium memberships. Those employees will then be able to stream playlists they helped create while making your latte.

After the US rollout, Spotify and Starbucks will take the show on the road, hitting Canada and the UK.

Starbucks customers who are also Spotify users can earn stars via the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program with this partnership; the first time the rewards platform has been opened to a third-party. To earn stars, Starbucks customers need to sign up for Spotify Premium, which will also give them the chance to “influence in-store playlists”.

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Spotify will feature Starbucks playlists, which has new music as well as Starbucks’ “most popular music from the past 20 years”.

Notably, this partnership comes as Spotify is believed to be working on a service named Spotify Now, which may offer video and contextual playlist creation, much like this partnership with Starbucks offers.

➤ Starbucks and Spotify Redefine Retail Experience by Connecting Spotify Music Streaming Service Into World-Class Store and Digital Platform [Spotify]