Carly Simon Files Lawsuit Against Starbucks

If there’s one thing we know about singer Carly Simon it’s that she hasn’t got time for the pain. And what’s giving her an aching feeling at present is Starbucks, who she claims didn’t promote her 2008 album effectively through its music division.

The Grammy winner and her attorneys said the album, This Kind of Love, wasn’t offered in “a substantial number” in the coffee giant’s stores in the early months following its April 2008 release.

A Starbucks spokeswoman, Sanja Gould, said the company had not seen Ms. Simon’s lawsuit.

“We are disappointed to hear that she may be taking this action,” Ms. Gould said. “Starbucks has great respect for Ms. Simon and is hopeful that this matter can be resolved in an amicable manner.”

According to NY Times, in spring 2007 Starbucks approached Simon about releasing an album on the Hear Music label.

Apparently an advance of $750,000 to $1 million was kicked-around, plus a big marketing plan that included placing the album right by the register (the musical up-sell to go perfectly with your vanilla latte’). By the time her lawyer received the final contract that October, the advance had dropped to $575,000, and Simon had blown almost $100,000 recording the damn thing in Martha’s Vineyard.

And then, in April 2008, Starbucks decided the music ‘biz wasn’t as tasty as a cranberry-orange scone and scaled back from music operations – just a few days before Simon’s album was to debut; management of Simon’s album shifted to a partner, Concord Music Group.

The heavyweight promotion/distribution went out the window.

Starbucks later cut the price of the album.

“By doing so, Starbucks stigmatized Ms. Simon’s album as an album that could not be sold at full price,” according to the claim.

According to Neilson Soundscan, 124,000 copies of This Kind of Love have been sold so far. It was to be her last album.

“Unfortunately, sales continued to lag as the title received tepid response from music consumers,” Starbucks said in a statement released Monday. “Other retailers faced the same fate with this CD.”

But the artist who rose to major fame in the ‘70s and ‘80s behind big hits like “The Right Thing to Do,” “Anticipation” and “You’re So Vain” is not about to sit back and settle – oh no.

She feels her bad sales for This Kind of Love were due to Starbuck’s mismanagement. The lawsuit was filed (by lawyer David Boies) on Friday, seeking $5 million to $10 million from Starbucks, alleging “concealment of material facts,” “tortious interference” with Ms. Simon’s contract, and “unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business practices.”

“Starbucks was so attractive to me because of what it offered, and Howard Schultz seemed to be such an attractive person,” she told the NY Times.

Whether or not the world was jilted out of hearing a return to greatness for Simon because of Starbucks is debatable. The album was not sold exclusively at Starbucks. Like any album it’ll have its good and bad reviews, and her die-hard fans will seek it out eventually.

But it’s hard not to admire Simon for standing her ground and not allowing this situation to pass like night.  If Simon feels like Starbuck’s didn’t hold up their end of the bargain then by all means she should stir things up.

That’s not to say she might have thought twice about a music deal with a company just a tad more successful with coffee beans than gold records. But if Starbuck’s jumped into the music game (and that’s some jump!), then by all means they need to be better prepared – it’s the music ‘biz for crying out loud! It would seem Starbuck’s did not purposefully intend for all this to go down with Simon’s album on deck, but unfortunately this is another example of Starbuck’s possibly jumping the gun across the board in their entertainment endeavors.

This is business, and it’s not like she’s pursuing this lawsuit while hopping from one mansion to the next; the Times story says she is in “financial straits from other business problems and must keep working.”

So this just isn’t about some spoiled artist who feels cheated out of a few bucks. Sonic Youth recently sounded off about their less-than-awesome experience with Starbuck’s, so perhaps Simon’s claim of ‘mismanagement’ carries weight.

“I refuse to go gently,” says Simon. “I’ve been stepped on too much in my life…. I feel that I’ve just about had enough.”

And make them throw in free coffee for life, Carly!

Simon is working on a new album, a reworking of her hits, scheduled for release this month, on her son’s label, Iris Records.

Do you think Carly Simon is right to sue Starbuck’s for her album’s lack of success?