‘Fresh Brewed Music’ Comes To Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

0

The java and jive wave is spreading.


International Coffee & Tea LLC’s Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf coffee houses have kicked off in-store CD sales. Two years ago, behemoth competitor Starbucks started doing the same and saw wildly successful results.


To differentiate itself, and to further promote the program, the Los Angeles company has just launched “Fresh Brewed Music,” a series of in-store concerts in the works for its Southern California locations.


The series, with future dates still in the works, opened with a free concert two weeks ago. The show featured MoZella, a new artist from Detroit, and was promoted heavily on local Clear Channel radio station KYSR-FM (98.7), which also partnered with the chain for the concert. It was hosted by station DJ Richard Blade and drew a capacity crowd.


The CDs of John Mayer and other featured artists are now being sold at nearly all Coffee Bean locations through a distribution deal with music and entertainment branding firm Inspire Entertainment LLC, which counts Whole Foods Market Inc. and Claire’s Stores Inc. accessory shops among its clients.


“Like Starbucks, the Coffee Bean is using music to emotionally fortify its brand and create a new revenue stream with in-store sales, and the results have been tremendously successful,” said James Dunne, Inspire’s founder. “It doesn’t cannibalize sales in traditional retailers like Wal-Mart or music stores. The history is a good one a number of companies have been doing this for years; Victoria’s Secret has sold about 18 million classical music CDs in their stores, for example.”



Nine lives? Try nine careers.

She’s got several theme parks named after her, a slew of movies, books and magazines as well as boatloads of merchandise bearing her name and image.


Now Hello Kitty will have a musical career, too.


Torrance-based Sanrio Inc., the American arm of Japan’s Sanrio Co. Ltd., has partnered with music publisher Cherry Lane to produce original music for Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters as well.


Expect Hello Kitty to have a broad repertoire. Sanrio, which was behind the films “Pokemon” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” owns the overseas rights to songs from Elvis Presley, the Sex Pistols, John Denver and the Black Eyed Peas.


For more than 30 years, the too-cute Japanese feline with the cult-like following has been a fixture on toys, clothing, school supplies and a host of other merchandise available in thousands of stores in North America alone.


Now if Hello Kitty could just do an in-store appearance at the Coffee Bean



Theory of Relativity

Beverly Hills’ Relativity Media LLC has created a wholly owned subsidiary, Relativity Media Holdings I LLC, concluding an agreement with Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking on a co-financing package for approximately 45 studio films over the next five years.


Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Relativity will own all of the equity and control the film selection and distribution for Relativity Media Holdings.


Relativity is behind more than $4.2 billion in production slate financings to date, and is backing films including the upcoming release “Smokin’ Aces,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” and “Inside Man.” Films financed by Relativity that are currently in production include James Mangold’s “3:10 to Yuma,” for Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.


Relativity principal Ryan Kavanaugh and his partners are behind the deal. (Kavanaugh is well-known for his Gun Hill Road LLC fund, which provides separate funds for both Sony Pictures Entertainment and Universal Pictures.)


Last year, Relativity became a player in the Lions Gate-Image Entertainment Inc. proxy war, the culmination of a years-long takeover bid by Lions Gate for the Chatsworth Distributor.


As part of a multi-picture deal with Image, Relativity was granted a stake in the company and co-principal Lynwood Spinks was named to the Image board. Spinks resigned late last year.



Hilton Harmony

Most Grammy stars will fly to the awards show next week, but one the Hilton Harmony Piano will be shipped by truck.


The instrument, adorned with thousands of recording artists’ autographs, is part of the Hilton Harmony Tour, a program designed to advocate music education. For each artist that signed the piano, Hilton pledged to donate $1,000 to the Grammy Foundation. The Harmony Tour piano first appeared at the 2006 Grammy Awards, at which musicians and actors who appeared on the show autographed the instrument.


The six-foot grand piano is now adorned with more than 110 celebrity autographs from artists including Mary J. Blige, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Wonder with each signature representing a $1,000 donation from Hilton Hotels to the Grammy Foundation’s music education programs.


After last year’s Grammys, the piano went on the road for a year-long nine-city tour, in which it was a centerpiece for special music appreciation lessons for school children in each city. The tour earned more than $110,000 for the foundation.


The piano ended its journey in Los Angeles, where it was on display at the Glendale Hilton last week before heading to be displayed on stage at next week’s 49th Annual Grammy Awards show next week.


The piano will be auctioned off this spring by Sotheby’s and Julien’s Auctions, with all proceeds to be donated to the Grammy Foundation.



Staff reporter Anne Riley-Katz can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225, or at [email protected].

No posts to display