McCartney first star in Starbucks universe

Paul McCartney has woken up and smelled the coffee, and then signed on with Starbucks.

The former Beatle is the first artist to agree to record with Starbucks Corp.'s new record label, the Seattle-based coffee retailer announced at its annual meeting Wednesday.

McCartney made an appearance viavideo feed from London to reassure the stockholders.

"This is something I've been working on for a little while now," McCartney said during the video feed.

"A lot of it's very personal to me. The songs are in some ways a little bit retrospective. Some of them are of now, some of them hark back to the past, but all of them are songs I'm very proud of."

His new, as-yet-untitled album is due in early June and marks the end of McCartney's decades-long association with Capitol.

Starbucks announced earlier this month it would partner with Concord Music Group to launch a new label.

The coffee chain has produced and sold some albums and markets books, but wants to build on its consumer appeal in the entertainment market.

The new label will be titled Hear Music, the same brand name used on recent releases sold through the coffeeshops.

Itwill sign emerging and established artists and musicians and sell records both in Starbucks and other retail stores.

Starbucks also has launched a branded page on Apple Inc.'s iTunes digital music store. The company operates more than 13,000 shops in over 35 countries.

Concord, which controls several other labels, helped Starbucks sell the Grammy-winning Genius Loves Company, an album of Ray Charles duets.

McCartney's last studio album was Chaos and Creation in the Backyard in 2005.