Mocha Round the Clock - Cafe Giant to Blend Its Own Music

Just when you thought you had acquired the knack of asking for a grande skim white chocolate caffe mocha or a Venti peppermint soy extra-hot sugar-free cinnamon latte, Starbucks has to go and raise the stakes.

The company that turned ordering a cup of coffee into an assault course of choice has announced it is extending its Seattle savvy into the music business. It is teaming up with its existing partner, Concord Music group, to set up a Los Angeles-based record label that will sign new artists and produce works for distribution across the company's rapidly expanding network of coffee houses.

Starbucks has made efforts in recent years to diversify its outlets. Its 13,000 stores, which serve more than 40m visits from customers a week, already sell CDs, books and DVDs and has a page on Apple's music store, iTunes. The move to set up its own record label is seen as the next logical step.

Under the existing brand Hear Music, which will become the name of the label, it has sold more than 5m copies of Ray Charles' album, Genius Loves Company.

But the move is likely to add to questions about whether the chain that began as a local coffee shop is growing too corporate and bland as it spreads its tentacles across America and beyond.