Pearl Jam, Inc.--sold out?

mwelchons

Does anyone else feel that Pearl Jam is over commercializing themselves? Sandals? stacks upon stacks of ugly posters? Special edition tee shirts on a semimonthly basis? Playing cards? I don't know. I'm sure I'm not the first person to posit this idea, but it just seems to be getting out of hand. During the Yield Tour the posters were limited, hand-pressed screen prints. Now they're largely shit--all stacked next to a box of stickers and baby onesie.

Weston1283

It's only over doing it if people don't want the stuff, and trust me, peope want the stuff now more than ever

ReleaseMe

stack of ugly posters... you meant Toronto 1 right?

TL170678

If they start charging $200 for show tickets, Eddie does a variety show and comeback special like Elvis, Mike gets a Artist edition Squier Stratocaster, and Stone records an album with Justin Bieber, I would say yes...... But I would say they have to do this to pay crew.

dimitrispearljam

you are the boss of your wallet..do what you like,and let the market speak for itself
when there are buyers u must have product to sell,

Wilds

They are heavily commercializing themselves as far as merchandise is concerned, but I agree with Weston1283, people want more and more, so the band provides it to us.

Also when the topic of selling out comes up, I always think it's pertinent to talk about the organization they support.

At this point there are a lot of full time employees who expect to get paid every two weeks.

So Pearljam.com is a business.

I'm able to separate the music, and the band, from the commercial necessity that arises from being together for over 20 years and establishing a world class, music, philanthropic, merchandise, Political activism, Art and Entertainment organization.

Not just five guys living under the same idealistic, living out of a van on the road, dream that many of us have in our youth. That time has come and gone.

lolobugg

mwelchons said:

Does anyone else feel that Pearl Jam is over commercializing themselves? Sandals? stacks upon stacks of ugly posters? Special edition tee shirts on a semimonthly basis? Playing cards? I don't know. I'm sure I'm not the first person to posit this idea, but it just seems to be getting out of hand. During the Yield Tour the posters were limited, hand-pressed screen prints. Now they're largely shit--all stacked next to a box of stickers and baby onesie.

do you consider the Grateful Dead sellouts?
just a question....
PJ's organization has become very Dead-like and that's not a bad thing to me.

Suziemay

dimitrispearljam said:

you are the boss of your wallet

Wow, those are such powerful words. I have to remember that

InBetweenIsMne

TL170678 said:

If they start charging $200 for show tickets, Eddie does a variety show and comeback special like Elvis, Mike gets a Artist edition Squier Stratocaster, and Stone records an album with Justin Bieber, I would say yes...... But I would say they have to do this to pay crew.

Whoa, whoa whoa! Take it easy on The King, man.

ComeToTX

I pass on about 95% of the stuff they sell. Obviously I'm in the minority.

Sarava

mwelchons said:

Does anyone else feel that Pearl Jam is over commercializing themselves? Sandals? stacks upon stacks of ugly posters? Special edition tee shirts on a semimonthly basis? Playing cards? I don't know. I'm sure I'm not the first person to posit this idea, but it just seems to be getting out of hand. During the Yield Tour the posters were limited, hand-pressed screen prints. Now they're largely shit--all stacked next to a box of stickers and baby onesie.

I enjoy many of these items. So for me it's great. To each his own.

Zod

Not really. Band's pretty much stopped making money on selling their actual music. They all make a living from playing shows and selling merch. Pearl Jam puts out a few items a year that seem off, but the rest of it is the standard stuff. Shirts, records etc.... They're nowhere near u2 or metallica level merch availability.

HesCalledDyer

dimitrispearljam said:

you are the boss of your wallet..do what you like,and let the market speak for itself
when there are buyers u must have product to sell,

LukinFan

Zod said:

Not really. Band's pretty much stopped making money on selling their actual music. They all make a living from playing shows and selling merch. Pearl Jam puts out a few items a year that seem off, but the rest of it is the standard stuff. Shirts, records etc.... They're nowhere near u2 or metallica level merch availability.

this

KP_McMinn

.

jeffbr

ComeToTX said:

I pass on about 95% of the stuff they sell. Obviously I'm in the minority.

Me, too. I don't give a fiddly fuck about most of the bullshit in the shop, but will pick up the occasional T-Shirt and pretty much any vinyl (that can't be purchased elsewhere). Yes, they're commercializing themselves a bit, but I can't really fault them. That's where the money comes from. I just don't buy into it. I'm here for the music.

mcgruff10

dimitrispearljam said:

you are the boss of your wallet..do what you like,and let the market speak for itself
when there are buyers u must have product to sell,

My Greek friend is wise

rival.

i like when these threads pop up when a 10th of the month announcement doesn't go in a member's favor or direction they want. while PJ is guilty of putting out some cheesy, awful merch every now and again, and while their merch machine is bigger than it was just a few years ago, it still pales in comparison to the operation that bands of similar caliber are putting on.

pull up neil young, bruce, the who's websites... their merch section is dripping in cheese and sell out material. pearl jam will get there one day for sure, but as of right now they are still a few steps behind.

rival.

cufflinks, christmas ornaments, bookmarks!

http://thewhoofficialmerch.com/collections/accessories

PJ_Soul

Yup, lump it or leave it. This is definitely nothing new. I have come to terms with it, and almost never buy anything unless it's actual music, although the very occasional poster might catch my eye too, though I agree that most of them are pretty ugly. Anyway, no skin off my back, and the merch is at least fun to talk about, lol. I really just care about what they're doing musically.

Vedd Hedd

Pearl Jam offers jobs to local artists, notable artists, etc. PJ's merch has more soul and meaning than most artists merch. That said...yeah, its a business. And yeah...people want it.

I want posters and shirts. I like posters and shirts. Nothing wrong with that.
"Overcommercialized".....think about this...how much advertising do they do for this? Most people need to be 10 club members to buy things anyway. These are the "superfans" so to speak.

When I walk into Wal Mart and see PJ posters and Tshirts, I might start to think about them being overcommercialized. The closest they came was Backspacer, when they had no record distribution contract, so they offered Backspacer at Target exclusively. But that was simply for people to have access to it.

pearldavidson

dimitrispearljam said:

you are the boss of your wallet..do what you like,and let the market speak for itself
when there are buyers u must have product to sell,

Amen.

Red Mosqito

Merchandising and tours are where the band makes their money so no I don't think they're commercializing themselves or "selling out" so to speak. Now if they came out with their own clothing or fragrance line and the band members start doing reality TV shows then you might have a point. As others have said, you control what you purchase.

pjalive21

ComeToTX said:

I pass on about 95% of the stuff they sell. Obviously I'm in the minority.

put me right there with you...only thing I care about is t-shirts and that's the ONE thing to me that they don't overdue, or at least haven't put many out that I need to have

Red Mosqito

Vedd Hedd said:

Pearl Jam offers jobs to local artists, notable artists, etc. PJ's merch has more soul and meaning than most artists merch. That said...yeah, its a business. And yeah...people want it.

I want posters and shirts. I like posters and shirts. Nothing wrong with that.
"Overcommercialized".....think about this...how much advertising do they do for this? Most people need to be 10 club members to buy things anyway. These are the "superfans" so to speak.

When I walk into Wal Mart and see PJ posters and Tshirts, I might start to think about them being overcommercialized. The closest they came was Backspacer, when they had no record distribution contract, so they offered Backspacer at Target exclusively. But that was simply for people to have access to it.

I was just about say the same. If they were over commercialized then we would see them everywhere we turn like we do with Beyonce or Justin Bieber etc. Shit, half the people I speak to are amazed when I tell them Pearl Jam is still around making quality music and touring. So one could make the argument that they're more under-commercialized than anything.

droptheleash9

Red Mosqito said:

Merchandising and tours are where the band makes their money so no I don't think they're commercializing themselves or "selling out" so to speak. Now if they came out with their own clothing or fragrance line and the band members start doing reality TV shows then you might have a point. As others have said, you control what you purchase.

Great points in this post. Also, is it bad if I would still buy the fragrance? Wonder what that would smell like!

pjalive21

Red Mosqito said:

Merchandising and tours are where the band makes their money so no I don't think they're commercializing themselves or "selling out" so to speak. Now if they came out with their own clothing or fragrance line and the band members start doing reality TV shows then you might have a point. As others have said, you control what you purchase.

Completely agree with you on this assessment....

All we have to do is reference the Kanye West post about merchandise and then we can state this band is nowhere near commercial

FR181798

A lot of bands are over commercializing but there isnt as much money in bringing out an album these days. Thats why its tours and merch for a lot of bands. Pearl Jam etc have a huge crew of people to pay. As far as all bands go I only buy vinyl, go to the occassional show and only buy a poster if its good and I was there. Posters arent really a big thing here in the UK but are slowly picking up pace. The price of vinyl and variants are even getting too much for me.

Brisk.

Why does this matter though?!! If you don't like you don't have to buy anything...I love the flip flops and everything, it's so cool to have PJ stuff. The years tour has been maybe the best in the last 13 years so selling more ugly t shirts hasn't effect their sound..

OnWis97

Meh...
As others have said, they're not hawking cola or or anything.

And add me to the list of people that don't need the "merch" line...I bought a T at my first show in 1995 and I bought one from their website maybe 10 years ago (the 80s Mariner font...love it). I did hit the merch stand in St. Paul hoping for a shirt that resembled a home team, but it did not, so I did not buy.

I maybe have a little discomfort with the posters because they go the "limited print" route and charge a lot. Why not just produce as many as they can sell for a reasonable price? But I don't have any posters (and I don't get the excitement) so I don't give it much thought.

But as pointed out, touring (which includes selling merch) is where artists make their money. And with filesharing and buying buy the song rather than album, music sales are probably suffering for all of 'em, so I generally don't have an issue.

Some people consider it greedy to sell the boots...and I don't know whether it is or not but so what? I LOVE being able to go to a show and then relive it...And I also have 10 or 12 boots from shows I was not at...at the risk of sounding corny, that's what it's all about...the music. If I ever get rich, I am buying all the boots.

Gtilley8

Wilds said:

They are heavily commercializing themselves as far as merchandise is concerned, but I agree with Weston1283, people want more and more, so the band provides it to us.

Also when the topic of selling out comes up, I always think it's pertinent to talk about the organization they support.

At this point there are a lot of full time employees who expect to get paid every two weeks.

So Pearljam.com is a business.

I'm able to separate the music, and the band, from the commercial necessity that arises from being together for over 20 years and establishing a world class, music, philanthropic, merchandise, Political activism, Art and Entertainment organization.

Not just five guys living under the same idealistic, living out of a van on the road, dream that many of us have in our youth. That time has come and gone.

This