McCartney keeps the CD alive with Starbucks

The Observer posted a column yesterday about the death of the album and the rise in digital sales this year. Of note in the piece (which I quite like) is the statement that Paul McCartney wants his newest CD Memory Almost Full to be "a desirable object" when it is released in June at your local Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX).

The release of that album on June 5th is marketing genius, at least in my opinion. The week it is released will mark the 40th anniversary of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band. McCartney, obviously, would want to use that date to release his newest album, but think about the name of it as well. Memory Almost Full invokes some form of thought about the past forty years and clearly reflects on where McCartney and his career have gone in that time period. Of course, McCartney could use a nice little reminder of his Beatles past considering the state of his life since around this time a year ago (his divorce from Heather Mills... you know her from ABC's Dancing with the Stars).

Starbucks is slowly losing in prices right now, so in a month this marketing blitz could be a nice bonus for the company, even if it comes from their newest scheme and company Hear Music, which is not "related" to their coffee business except through the ownership. The Observer author noted that maybe they will create a Macca-cino, and if that was more than a joke suggestion, Starbucks might benefit in addition to the connections they have been afforded with The Beatles and the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper.