Just Like a Rolling Scone

Starbucks Corp. (Seattle) has announced plans to exclusively sell “Bob Dylan: Live at the Gaslight 1962,” a recording that has been prized by fans as a bootleg for decades.

The Dylan release will not initially be available anywhere else for 18 months.

It’s the latest example of the coffee retailer encroaching on the business of traditional music retailers. Over the last year, the chain has sold more than 750,000 copies of the Grammy-winning Ray Charles album, “Genius Loves Company,” and recently put on its counters an acoustic version of the Alanis Morissette album “Jagged Little Pill.” which Starbucks began selling several weeks ago.

Such deals have been known to alienate other stores. A few of them stopped selling other albums by Morissette for several weeks, to make their point.

“We’re focused on providing our customers unique opportunities,” said Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment. “We want the music customer to think of Starbucks as a destination.”