Sir Paul is one of the biggest names in popular music

The company announced plans last week to sign established and new acts to Hear Music, which has previously released albums of licensed songs.

Its biggest success to date has been the Grammy-winning Genius Loves Company album of Ray Charles duets.

Sir Paul told the company's annual meeting he expected the new album to be in the shops in early June.

He added he was impressed with Hear Music's plan to use Starbucks' 13,500 retail outlets to sell the album.

"For me, the great thing is the commitment and the passion and the love of music, which as an artist is good to see," he said.

This is a pretty powerful new platform, when you can reach 44 million customers per week through Starbucks stores Glen Barros, Concord Music

The company will also release his music through online download stores, while it also operates Hear Music coffee houses where customers can burn tracks onto CDs.

Glen Barros, president of Concord Music Group - which is Starbucks' partner in the Hear Music venture - said recording artists should be attracted by the idea of a built-in audience in Starbucks.

"This is a pretty powerful new platform, when you can reach 44 million customers per week through Starbucks stores," Mr Barros said last week.