Starbucks Bans the Boss
The Boss is paying the cost for some racy lyrics and anticorporate politics.
Starbucks says it will not stock Bruce Springsteen's just-released Devils & Dust, in part because of one track's graphic imagery.
The song in question, "Reno," depicts an encounter at a Nevada brothel, including a reference to oral sex and the line: "Two hundred dollars straight in, two-fifty in the ass."
But that alone didn't trigger the Boss ban.
"There were a number of factors involved...[Lyrics] was one of the factors, but not the only reason," Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment, tells Reuters.
According to Newsweek, Starbucks decided to dust Devils after a deal fell through for a cobranded disc and promotional deal that prominently featured the Starbucks name. Springsteen's label, Columbia Records, balked when the idea was floated, citing the blue-collar champion's well-known opposition to merchandising his music.
Although Springsteen is doing just fine without Starbucks' help--Dust debuted atop Billboard's Hot 200 last week, selling more than 222,000 copies--the loss of a vital retail outlet could dent long-term sales.
The latte-slinging megachain has become an increasingly important part of the music business in the past two years. Caffeine junkies can now buy a variety of adult-alternative CDs--from Norah Jones to Elvis Costello to Joni Mitchell to Michael Bubl?--and even make customized discs at some outlets. It was Starbucks that was credited with the massive success of Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company, accounting for a full 25 percent of the Grammy-winning disc's nearly four million copies.
Starbucks even bought music chain Hear Music, which now produces its own line of CDs for the java-sipping set and an XM satellite radio station based on its music.
Springsteen, meanwhile, is currently in the middle of a solo acoustic tour, stopping in Denver Saturday before hitting St. Paul's Xcel Energy center Tuesday night.
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