Selling out or just a sign of the times?
It’s a mashup of a different kind. If you have not seen it, Pearl Jam has teamed up with retailer Target to sell their latest album ‘Backspacer’. Upon first seeing this I thought, “God what a bunch of sellouts!” But then I took a little time to think it over.
Had they really sold out? Or is this just another sign of the changing times for the music industry? A case of a band simply taking matters into their own hand?
While it was kinda strange seeing the last true survivors of grunge dancing around Target logos (and smiling), I don’t hold this deal as a whole against them. Labels are not doing their job anymore so bands are forced to find new ways to get their music directly to the people.
Like Radiohead letting their fans name their price. Like Nine Inch Nails giving their album away for free and still breaking Amazon.com sales records. Like seeing U2 in a Blackberry commercial. Anyway, expect to see more of these in the future.
Oh, and if you’re in a band, you’d be smart to try some of these things yourself.
PS – If this single is any indication, the album sounds pretty rockin’.
I’ve seen a good bit of folks talking about this topic. It’s a strange topic and I’m not sure if I consider this selling out. One of the strange aspects of the deal (from what I’ve read) is that local non-corporate music retailers can sell this album, but the only corporate sellers are Itunes and Target. This was part of the deal that Pearl Jam struck with Target. I am surprised that Pearl Jam did not just do what Amanda Palmer recently wrote about on her blog. Here’s the link to her blog about how to be an artist and survive in this information/internet dominated world: http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/200582690/why-i-am-not-afraid-to-take-your-money-by-amanda
Hope you are doing well Stephen and you should take a jaunt down to NC again sometime soon.
Cheers!
Thanks Ziggy. Great post. I hope to get back to NC soon. I keep letting life get in my way. I have to stop doing that.
I had the same reaction as you Stephen. At first I was against it, but now I’m all for it.
I’m so divided on this. I think every artist should make money any way they can but exclusives just suck even though they can be lucrative deals. I don’t and won’t use iTunes, hate the way they do business. Luckily, I don’t much like Pearl Jam’s music (it’s okay but not something I would buy or listen to on purpose), but that’s not the point. They’ve made some amazing decisions, like shunning TicketMaster, that made me respect them immensely. They’ve been pointing out problems with the industry for years and that’s a very good thing, too. But the decision to limit the availability of your music is a dangerous road to go down, it should be everywhere so people can make a conscious decision on who to give their money to and so artist’s can make as much as possible to support making more music. The best way to voice your opinions is through how you spend your money, after all.
Also, thanks from me, too, Ziggy, that’s a great post you linked to!