Large Cappuccino, Heavy On The Macca

With a marketing campaign that sounds a little like a laboratory experiment, Starbucks will play Sir Paul McCartney’s new album on a continuous listening loop across 10,000 coffee houses in 29 countries.

Within a week of its June 5th release, more than 44 million of the store’s customers are expected to slurp their caffeine-rich fix while listening to Memory Almost Full.

Presumably, the success of the launch will be gauged on such data as the number of record sales and the number of people who give up coffee altogether.

Starbucks is offering a one-stop marketing and retail opportunity for artists.

"We became aware that Paul had completed his deal and was looking at other options," Starbucks Entertainment president Ken Lombard told the U.K.’s The Times, as the former Beatle prepared for his first non-EMI release in 25 years.

"It’s a new world now," 64-year-old McCartney said at the Starbucks annual meeting. "People are thinking of new ways to reach the people."