Bob Dylan Signs Exclusive Deal With Starbucks

Yahoo: On Monday, Bob Dylan became the latest musician to sign up with Starbucks in an exclusive CD deal, which will no doubt upset more than one retailer...Other recent signings for the coffee giant include Ray Charles, Alanis Morissette and Joni Mitchell. The album - Dylan: Live at the Gaslight 1962 - will hit all 4,600 U.S. coffee shops Aug. 30th, giving the new music tastemaker an 18 month exclusive, and features 10 previously unreleased tracks from performances at New York's Gaslight Cafe over four decades ago...

What's interesting about this particular deal is that Starbucks is trying to capitalize on old material, many of which is not yet available on the likes of iTunes and Rhapsody, etc...The company continues to move aggressively into the music scene with a unique strategy to sell CD's consumers can't buy elsewhere and the major labels might increase their own sales by opening the vaults online with a similar tactic...Dylan's CD will cost $13.95 and the release also coincides with the premiere of a documentary film about Dylan's life by director Martin Scorsese called "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan." (Starbucks will also be selling the soundtrack - though not exclusively...)