Ed and Amazon

F Me In The Brain

Spiritual_Chaos said:

JimmyV said:

WHY WON'T YOU SHARE MY CONTRIVED OUTRAGE?!?!?

Focus on buying that designed flannel, instead of mocking other users.

Casting judgement at others is your game.  Putting a question mark at the end of it does not change that.

You hate Amazon.  You hate that EV would associate with Amazon, whatever the (unknown) purpose.

Got it. 

HughFreakingDillon

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Abe Froman said:

Ed played two songs virtually and made a bunch of Amazon employees happy. Who gives a fuck 

So where is the limit where you would "give a fuck" ? 

let me ask you, what is the difference between ed being hired to play a gig by amazon and he or the band being hired by live nation to play a gig? they are both promoters in this instance. in the case of the former, however, all they are promoting is employee happiness and morale. 

a band or musician is paid to entertain. 

it probably doesn't hurt that jeff bezos and trump hate each other. LOL

Gravey1975

I'm gonna bite here, not cos I disagree (you'll see a few pages back that I said times have changed yadda yadda) but because I do think there is a bit of a difference between playing a gig organised by say Live Nation vs a corporate gig. And that is that with a traditional show the band are at least playing under the auspices of it being "for the fans", whereas if it's a corporate show a high proportion of those attending will not be fans of the band, so it is more gratuitously "for the money". 

For the record, I've been to a few corporate gigs over the years via my job, and most have been terrible. The bands are clearly ashamed to be playing to a bunch of disinterested suits and put in a sub par performance. It's brazen. That said, I saw Metallica play at Salesforce Dreamforce back in 2011 and they were proper professional and put on a solid show. So I think the lesson is this: if you're gonna take the corporate dollar, at least go the whole hog and embrace it and do your damn job. And I'm pretty sure that PJ would/do give it 100%. 

HughFreakingDillon

the entire point of touring/playing shows in any form is to make money and promote your music to make money. so it doesn't really matter (to me) if it's a corporate gig, a wedding, or wrigley stadium, or a subway station. the band is there to make money and hopefully to connect with the audience and to play for the sake of playing. 

to me if the artist is ultimately ok with what they are doing, or if they aren't and they simply need to do it to live, then who am i to judge. 

Abe Froman

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Abe Froman said:

Ed played two songs virtually and made a bunch of Amazon employees happy. Who gives a fuck 

So where is the limit where you would "give a fuck" ? 

I don’t know why Ed played. I don’t know what he got paid. I don’t know what he did or plans to do with the money if he did get paid. I have no idea if Amazon supports/donated to causes Ed is involved in. Therefore, I don’t give a fuck he played 2 songs virtually for some Amazon employees. 

It seems to me Ed and the band have always had pretty consistent and thoughtful reasoning behind their decisions (even if I don’t always agree with them) so I respect that and don’t jump to outrage or pointing hypocritical fingers at every little thing they do. 

ComeToTX

Abe Froman said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Abe Froman said:

Ed played two songs virtually and made a bunch of Amazon employees happy. Who gives a fuck 

So where is the limit where you would "give a fuck" ? 

I don’t know why Ed played. I don’t know what he got paid. I don’t know what he did or plans to do with the money if he did get paid. I have no idea if Amazon supports/donated to causes Ed is involved in. Therefore, I don’t give a fuck he played 2 songs virtually for some Amazon employees. 

It seems to me Ed and the band have always had pretty consistent and thoughtful reasoning behind their decisions (even if I don’t always agree with them) so I respect that and don’t jump to outrage or pointing hypocritical fingers at every little thing they do. 

all of this.  the whole discussion on this has jumped the shark.  

HughFreakingDillon

ComeToTX said:

Abe Froman said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Abe Froman said:

Ed played two songs virtually and made a bunch of Amazon employees happy. Who gives a fuck 

So where is the limit where you would "give a fuck" ? 

I don’t know why Ed played. I don’t know what he got paid. I don’t know what he did or plans to do with the money if he did get paid. I have no idea if Amazon supports/donated to causes Ed is involved in. Therefore, I don’t give a fuck he played 2 songs virtually for some Amazon employees. 

It seems to me Ed and the band have always had pretty consistent and thoughtful reasoning behind their decisions (even if I don’t always agree with them) so I respect that and don’t jump to outrage or pointing hypocritical fingers at every little thing they do. 

all of this.  the whole discussion on this has jumped the shark.  

it's been that way ever since backspacer and the target distribution partnership. probably much earlier. but that's the oldest memory I have of this type of discussion today. 

ComeToTX

i could see why people were upset with the target show and the oracle show because they took all their gear across multiple states and didn't play a regular tour stop.  this is eddie sitting in his house playing 2 songs. 

JimmyV

ComeToTX said:

i could see why people were upset with the target show and the oracle show because they took all their gear across multiple states and didn't play a regular tour stop.  this is eddie sitting in his house playing 2 songs. 

Even that reasoning for being upset about Target and Oracle seems pretty thin. 

HughFreakingDillon

ComeToTX said:

i could see why people were upset with the target show and the oracle show because they took all their gear across multiple states and didn't play a regular tour stop.  this is eddie sitting in his house playing 2 songs. 

that's pretty weak in itself in my opinion. that's like me going to a friend's for dinner and everyone along my route being mad i didn't stop in. and setting up shows is a lot more work than the pop in. 

Gravey1975

Pearl Jam have long been considered one of the most principled bands around. If some fans find it distasteful that the band are doing corporate gigs (especially after some of Ed's quotes in the past about such shows), I get it. I may not agree, but I totally understand their disappointment. 

HughFreakingDillon

to me personally there's a statute of limitations on comments like that. it was 25 years ago. knowledge and experiences tend to change our points of view, and also how external factors change as well (doing a corporate gig in the 90's probably involves different concessions than it does now). 

100 Pacer

If strumming the guitar for a few minutes yields a pay cheque you can then use to fund a charitable donation which you can write off then the arrangement seems like a win-win.

static111

Spiritual_Chaos said:

JimmyV said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Today I learned that in 2020 it is wrong in the Pearl Jam fanbase to be critical of Amazon and believing artists should not support that company.

Another step of defeat from this fanbase, with the defense "They/We are not 26 anymore. So anything goes". 

As long as those Vaults keep coming out... I guess

And today we were reminded how very annoying your particular brand of trolling can be. 

In what way am I trolling?

SC isn’t trolling. Amazon is a shit company.  It’s Wal-Mart all dressed up in its Silicon Valley best without the deplorables in the checkout lane. Draining off what is left of the independent retail market, and getting away with it because having the largest online selling platform is not the same as a monopoly.  Taking massive write offs and losses while not providing much in the way of benefits to their workers, whom it has been documented are working in unsafe conditions and peeing in bottles to keep from taking breaks and meeting quotas.  Controlling data, servers, platforms is the new monopoly.  

As far as Ed taking money, well good for him.. I’m still not going to be doing any business with Amazon.

SC the Neil playing for chickens doesn’t hold up though, Neil himself is hocking Amazon music streaming about every other day over on the archives site.

JimmyV

Gravey1975 said:

Pearl Jam have long been considered one of the most principled bands around. If some fans find it distasteful that the band are doing corporate gigs (especially after some of Ed's quotes in the past about such shows), I get it. I may not agree, but I totally understand their disappointment. 

Sure, but I would think having been long considered one of the most principled bands around would have earned them some benefit of the doubt on these things, particularly when none of us know the details of their contract. Instead we see some fans over and over again waiting for any opportunity to pounce. 

on2legs

We all know Amazon is a giant remorseless corporation.  But we're Pearl Jam fans.  We discuss Pearl Jam and things related to it.  Some of us need to make our way to the Giant Corporation Message Board and post their outrage over there instead of bemoaning that Pearl Jam fans are posting about songs and hats on a Pearl Jam message board.

PJNB

100 Pacer said:

If strumming the guitar for a few minutes yields a pay cheque you can then use to fund a charitable donation which you can write off then the arrangement seems like a win-win.

Exactly. I am not sure why there is even a fuss here. It is 2020. 

mcgruff10

Abe Froman said:

Ed played two songs virtually and made a bunch of Amazon employees happy. Who gives a fuck 

Bingo.  Good for Ed.  It would be nice if pj got together and played a few songs for us.   

PJ1973

Maybe he did it so he could find out how they deliver their packages around the country faster and at a fraction of the cost of Mail Innovations?

hedonist

My goodness, it was something that gave people a nice, if brief, respite from everything.

Its impetus? No one’s fucking business.

pdalowsky

PJ1973 said:

Maybe he did it so he could find out how they deliver their packages around the country faster and at a fraction of the cost of Mail Innovations?

PJ1973 said:

Maybe he did it so he could find out how they deliver their packages around the country faster and at a fraction of the cost of Mail Innovations?

HAHAHAHAHA

pdalowsky

Also whilst this was for employees of Amazon (those who have to piss in bottles apparently) we have all got to see it, so we can be thankful for a little virtual Eddie in these pretty tedious times. For that - thank you Amazon

demetrios

I thought it was great that he played for Amazon employees. Now its only a matter of time till Ed will finally play an acoustic set on SiriusXM Pearl Jam Radio. *crossing fingers 

NewJPage

pdalowsky said:

Also whilst this was for employees of Amazon (those who have to piss in bottles apparently) we have all got to see it, so we can be thankful for a little virtual Eddie in these pretty tedious times. For that - thank you Amazon

Bezos could give every employee a bonus of 105k and still have as much money as he had before the pandemic started.

Foriginal Sin

JPPJ84 said:

thomascbullock said:

Was a great performance and a wonderful surprise. When he started Porch I wasn't sure if that would work solo acoustic (forgive me if he does that often and I just don't know), but it really came off well. Hesitated a bit before the first line, then said "it's what he keeps waking up thinking these days", and went for it.

He played it during his Euro tour in 2019, it was brilliant 

Heard it in 2012 at his solos and it works perfectly!

JOEJOEJOE

Abe Froman said:

Spiritual_Chaos said:

Abe Froman said:

Ed played two songs virtually and made a bunch of Amazon employees happy. Who gives a fuck 

So where is the limit where you would "give a fuck" ? 

I don’t know why Ed played. I don’t know what he got paid. I don’t know what he did or plans to do with the money if he did get paid. I have no idea if Amazon supports/donated to causes Ed is involved in. Therefore, I don’t give a fuck he played 2 songs virtually for some Amazon employees. 

It seems to me Ed and the band have always had pretty consistent and thoughtful reasoning behind their decisions (even if I don’t always agree with them) so I respect that and don’t jump to outrage or pointing hypocritical fingers at every little thing they do. 

You hit it on the head with your assessment.  

None of us are privy to the inner-workings of the arrangement, so without all of the facts, I don't see how people can judge.

cblock4life

I may have missed someone else posting same opinion so apologies in advance. I’m not naive enough to think that the $$$ isn’t a bonus, but watching this guy with PJ or solo you can see he absolutely loves playing music so any reason to perform....just my opinion. He was passionate about music long before fame, and then sometimes I think he’s just a fucking genius who knows how to run his business. Either way, I think it goes beyond money. Good way to reach a new audience too (another business move?) who knows

Spunkie

hedonist said:

My goodness, it was something that gave people a nice, if brief, respite from everything.

Its impetus? No one’s fucking business.

I agree and would add that his discussion about sustainability and the climate crisis was a great use of his platform.

Thierry Henry

So with the charity event Ed mentioned that’s going ahead on 18th November and streamed by Amazon, I guess a little perspective.

HughFreakingDillon

Thierry Henry said:

So with the charity event Ed mentioned that’s going ahead on 18th November and streamed by Amazon, I guess a little perspective.

i just finished listening to the entire interview, and that's exactly it. and most of us knew it was probably a give and take sort of situation. kudos to him.