Time for Joni's critics to wake up and smell the coffee

by Paul Connolly
London Lite
July 30, 2007

Star's bucks: But Joni's deal also gets her music to fans.

You could almost see the lentil-huggers' beards spontaneously combust. "Sell-out!" they cried, brushing the dried tofu from their hemp sweaters. Who had attracted the ire of the pensionable old hippies? Joni Mitchell, wonky-faced folk pin-up of all slightly myopic chaps of a certain vintage. What had she done to deserve such a tirade? She, er, signed to a record company to, er, release her new album, Shine, due out in September.

Now, of course, the Joni Mitchell controversy is a little more complex than I've suggested so far. But only a little. What has so infuriated some of her fans is that the label she has signed to, Hear Music, is owned by Starbucks. Of course, Starbucks is regarded unfavourably by many people for wiping out smaller coffee shops and for charging £3 a go for a coffee. But they're much like any other company - they want to make as much profit as possible.

Judging by the criticism Mitchell has endured you'd have thought her previous labels, which include Warners and Geffen, employed only orphans and gave 90 per cent of their revenues to the Fluffy Kitten Benevolent Fund, rather than being globe-straddling entertainment monsters desperate to wring every last penny of profit from their artists.

Perhaps if Mitchell had signed to Lockheed Records or another label funded by an arms company (there actually aren't any, so don't worry) her critics might have had a point.

But Starbucks is offering a valuable customer service. Older artists, such as Mitchell and her new label partner, Sir Paul McCartney, are finding it increasingly difficult to secure record deals as the mainstream music business focuses its attention on the 15-20 demographic.

Here's a quick stat. In the Seventies the average age of an artist in the US charts was nearly 31. Now it's closer to 21. Consequently, you don't find older artists on MTV and you rarely hear them on the radio. But Starbucks is now giving them exposure in their outlets. I think it's really sharp niche marketing and evidence that some of the better music biz minds are operating on the fringe of the industry.

The deal is certainly not evidence that Joni Mitchell has sold out. She hasn't re-recorded Big Yellow Taxi with the line, "They paved paradise and put up a Starbucks shop". Or given approval to the Mitchell Macchiato or The Hissing Of Summer Lawns Latte.

You can't equate it, as some have, with old Mr Rainforest, Sting, who, upon finding his record sales on the wane - it was if the world had suddenly learnt how to hear again - lent one of his po-faced ditties to an advert for a petrol-guzzling Jag a few years back. Now, that was proper selling out.