Yes, these pro shot videos are great. Glad that they do them and hopefully we'll keep seeing more. Technology can be a blessing and a curse but sure is great for the modern day music listening (and viewing) experience. Got to give a shout out where due! Wasn't it Tim Bierman on a podcast that said he was kind of bummed about the lack of enthusiasm over the Wreckage live video earlier? Keep them coming. I think we all like them and appreciate, we just live in a world where there are a million videos of everything so it's always at everyone's fingertips and we're used to it. Still, a pro video beats any iphone fan video by a mile. Keep it up!
Their audience has been growing because of the live shows. They play ballparks and have plenty of traction. They have a sirius channel. Dark Matter is all over apple. They are doing just fine.
Who is arguing that they're not doing fine? That's not the discussion here. It's about whether this single is gaining a new audience for them (or bringing back the old audience that is unaware they're still an active band). Evidence does not suggest that their audience is growing. They sold fewer copies of this record than the last record. They do not stream well and, with rare exceptions, they play arenas, not stadiums. The first two singles got a lot more attention from radio than we've seen with recent albums, but rock radio is a niche format in 2024, and Triple-A is even more niche. They have a Sirius channel because they are a well-known act among a demographic that Sirius targets. Bruce has a Sirius channel, too, but no one can reasonably argue that Bruce's audience is growing.
Can’t compare record sales. This was the First PJ “record” I haven’t purchased, who purchases albums anymore? I can listen on Amazon Music whenever I want
You can compare record sales relative to other artists. There was a time when Pearl Jam was one of the most popular artists in the U.S., and their record sales reflected it. This is a band that sold nearly a million copies of Vs. in a week in 1993. When they did that, no one had ever sold more in a week. The next year, they sold nearly 900,000 copies of Vitalogy in a week. It was the second-highest total up until that date.
In 2024, Pearl Jam is no longer one of the most popular artists in the U.S., and their record sales reflect it. Dark Matter sold 52,000 copies in its first week and was credited with a total of 59,000 units, which includes streaming-equivalent units.* Every single number-one album in 2024 had a higher unit total than Dark Matter. In other words, Pearl Jam went from the all-time record holder in 1993 to a number that wouldn't have been number one in any week of the year. Your argument might make sense if Pearl Jam sold 60,000 records and no one else was selling many more than that, but Dark Matter is not going to rank among the top 100 best-selling albums of 2024.
A valuable thing for everyone to remember is that they shouldn't extrapolate about what other people are doing based on what they themselves are doing. Just because you stopped buying albums, it does not follow that no one buys albums anymore. There are still millions of people buying albums. They're just not buying Pearl Jam albums.
*The paltry total of 7,000 first-week streaming-equivalent units indicates that you might be streaming Pearl Jam's new album on Amazon Music, but not many other people are doing so.
Whatever. This thread is about a song and not a market research thesis about free radio versus streaming. And you did compare Shaboozey to Pearl Jam. But they did not sell out Wrigley in the 90s. More people are going. And with their kids. Pearl Jam became trendy well after the 90s. Your premise about more people seeing them in the 90s is wrong, maybe for 2024, but Pearl Jam became much more popular after the 2006 tour.
The discussion within the thread was about the decision to release an edited version of the song and we were evaluating that decision with respect to whether it would help the song reach a larger audience. You chimed in asking if charts "matter." They absolutely matter to an objective discussion of whether a song is reaching an audience. You just keep insisting, in the face of all objective evidence to the contrary, that their audience is growing. You pointed to their alleged presence "all over" one streaming service in support of your claim, even though objective facts show that they are not streamed much at all.
For the second time, I did not compare Shaboozey to Pearl Jam. I cited data about a Shaboozey song to illustrate that the radio audience is significantly larger than the streaming audience for music, something which some people here fail to recognize because they engage in the fallacy of "I don't listen to the radio anymore, therefore no one else must listen to the radio anymore."
I cannot comprehend how you can possibly believe that Pearl Jam is more popular in 2024 than they were in the 1990s, or that they became more popular after 2006. There is no objective rationale for this claim. You think because people bring their families that means their audience is growing? You're ignoring the millions of people who used to be part of their audience who no longer care. They more than offset the children of a subset of the remaining core group of fans. What Pearl Jam has is a loyal core group of fans and a significant number of more casual fans. Collectively, the group is much smaller than the band's fan base in the early 1990s, when it was arguably the most popular act in any genre in the U.S. for a period of about 18 months.
PJ doesn't give two shits if they are gaining fans or gaining props for songs they write. They do their thing and they have a massive fan base that wants what they provide. That's it.
I've said this many times when people are asking why the band doesn't do this or that to promote the albums or singles. They don't care all that much. They want the songs to be heard, but they're not going to do things they're uncomfortable doing to expand the audience. And they want the songs to be liked, but they're going to write what they're moved to write. They're not going to attempt to tailor their sound to what a wider audience is inclined to like. It would be a fool's errand anyway because an entire generation of music listeners has come of age in a world where rock music is on the margins of popular music.
A valuable thing for everyone to remember is that they shouldn't extrapolate about what other people are doing based on what they themselves are doing. Just because you stopped buying albums, it does not follow that no one buys albums anymore. There are still millions of people buying albums. They're just not buying Pearl Jam albums.
They are buying Coldplay albums. Fastest selling album in the UK in 2024 so far.
A valuable thing for everyone to remember is that they shouldn't extrapolate about what other people are doing based on what they themselves are doing. Just because you stopped buying albums, it does not follow that no one buys albums anymore. There are still millions of people buying albums. They're just not buying Pearl Jam albums.
They are buying Coldplay albums. Fastest selling album in the UK in 2024 so far.
A valuable thing for everyone to remember is that they shouldn't extrapolate about what other people are doing based on what they themselves are doing. Just because you stopped buying albums, it does not follow that no one buys albums anymore. There are still millions of people buying albums. They're just not buying Pearl Jam albums.
They are buying Coldplay albums. Fastest selling album in the UK in 2024 so far.
This I do not understand
Must be doing ok in Australia. Where PJ are playing in Melbourne (2 shows), Coldplay are playing 4. I know my boss is taking his daughter. She’s 14? I just think they appeal to a larger audience these days. For a concert the stadium will hold 40k +
They have become that Bruce Springsteen-thing here in Sweden. They play like 2-4 nights at Ullevi Arena here for 55-60.000 people a night and the whole city is buzzing. Like when Bruce comes.
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
PJ doesn't give two shits if they are gaining fans or gaining props for songs they write. They do their thing and they have a massive fan base that wants what they provide. That's it.
I've said this many times when people are asking why the band doesn't do this or that to promote the albums or singles. They don't care all that much. They want the songs to be heard, but they're not going to do things they're uncomfortable doing to expand the audience. And they want the songs to be liked, but they're going to write what they're moved to write. They're not going to attempt to tailor their sound to what a wider audience is inclined to like. It would be a fool's errand anyway because an entire generation of music listeners has come of age in a world where rock music is on the margins of popular music.
This. And choosing a song like Waiting for Stevie is not going to build a new audience. Like the song but kind of find it an odd choice for a single.
A valuable thing for everyone to remember is that they shouldn't extrapolate about what other people are doing based on what they themselves are doing. Just because you stopped buying albums, it does not follow that no one buys albums anymore. There are still millions of people buying albums. They're just not buying Pearl Jam albums.
They are buying Coldplay albums. Fastest selling album in the UK in 2024 so far.
This I do not understand
They are polarizing in that a lot of people probably agree with you, particularly among traditional rock fans, but Coldplay's popularity is unquestionable. They had number one songs on the Hot 100 in 2008 and 2021. That reflects a whole 'nother level of reach (even accounting for the fact that the second number one was boosted by having BTS as collaborators). They have a much broader audience than Pearl Jam.
A valuable thing for everyone to remember is that they shouldn't extrapolate about what other people are doing based on what they themselves are doing. Just because you stopped buying albums, it does not follow that no one buys albums anymore. There are still millions of people buying albums. They're just not buying Pearl Jam albums.
They are buying Coldplay albums. Fastest selling album in the UK in 2024 so far.
This I do not understand
They are polarizing in that a lot of people probably agree with you, particularly among traditional rock fans, but Coldplay's popularity is unquestionable. They had number one songs on the Hot 100 in 2008 and 2021. That reflects a whole 'nother level of reach (even accounting for the fact that the second number one was boosted by having BTS as collaborators). They have a much broader audience than Pearl Jam.
They are a pop band. They stopped being a true rock band several albums ago.
Their audience has been growing because of the live shows. They play ballparks and have plenty of traction. They have a sirius channel. Dark Matter is all over apple. They are doing just fine.
Who is arguing that they're not doing fine? That's not the discussion here. It's about whether this single is gaining a new audience for them (or bringing back the old audience that is unaware they're still an active band). Evidence does not suggest that their audience is growing. They sold fewer copies of this record than the last record. They do not stream well and, with rare exceptions, they play arenas, not stadiums. The first two singles got a lot more attention from radio than we've seen with recent albums, but rock radio is a niche format in 2024, and Triple-A is even more niche. They have a Sirius channel because they are a well-known act among a demographic that Sirius targets. Bruce has a Sirius channel, too, but no one can reasonably argue that Bruce's audience is growing.
Can’t compare record sales. This was the First PJ “record” I haven’t purchased, who purchases albums anymore? I can listen on Amazon Music whenever I want
You can compare record sales relative to other artists. There was a time when Pearl Jam was one of the most popular artists in the U.S., and their record sales reflected it. This is a band that sold nearly a million copies of Vs. in a week in 1993. When they did that, no one had ever sold more in a week. The next year, they sold nearly 900,000 copies of Vitalogy in a week. It was the second-highest total up until that date.
In 2024, Pearl Jam is no longer one of the most popular artists in the U.S., and their record sales reflect it. Dark Matter sold 52,000 copies in its first week and was credited with a total of 59,000 units, which includes streaming-equivalent units.* Every single number-one album in 2024 had a higher unit total than Dark Matter. In other words, Pearl Jam went from the all-time record holder in 1993 to a number that wouldn't have been number one in any week of the year. Your argument might make sense if Pearl Jam sold 60,000 records and no one else was selling many more than that, but Dark Matter is not going to rank among the top 100 best-selling albums of 2024.
A valuable thing for everyone to remember is that they shouldn't extrapolate about what other people are doing based on what they themselves are doing. Just because you stopped buying albums, it does not follow that no one buys albums anymore. There are still millions of people buying albums. They're just not buying Pearl Jam albums.
*The paltry total of 7,000 first-week streaming-equivalent units indicates that you might be streaming Pearl Jam's new album on Amazon Music, but not many other people are doing so.
This entire paragraph is meaningless. What about the top selling ROCK records of the year? The top 75 probably do not have any new music from a rock band but I am guessing on that one. You cannot compare Pearl Jam to Taylor Swift, Jelly Roll, or Shaboozey. Pre-digital metrics cannot be used to compare modern day listening habits. It was 30 years ago!! Are there more 10c members now? Are they playing larger venues? Are tickets harder to get? Modern day metrics of sales or even streaming mean nothing these days. People are still file sharing. I suppose the one valid point you made is free that radio is still the most popular listening medium in the country. But probably not for most pearl jam fans. We want to hear the entire record without ads. EDIT and the thread is about a song. Which was played at MSG2 and the band sounded better than ever. I would bet more fans wanted to be there than in 1993.
PJ was definitely much bigger in 1993/1994 than they are today. The band was buzzing everywhere. Pearl Jam 1994 could be compared with Taylor Swift in 2024 in both sales and mainstream attention.
PJ was definitely much bigger in 1993/1994 than they are today. The band was buzzing everywhere. Pearl Jam 1994 could be compared with Taylor Swift in 2024 in both sales and mainstream attention.
Pearl Jam would not have filled up 60.000 x 3 shows in Europe in 1994, like TS did this summer in Sweden.
Michael Jackson or whoever (like Guns N Roses) and TS would be a better comparison globally.
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
PJ doesn't give two shits if they are gaining fans or gaining props for songs they write. They do their thing and they have a massive fan base that wants what they provide. That's it.
I've said this many times when people are asking why the band doesn't do this or that to promote the albums or singles. They don't care all that much. They want the songs to be heard, but they're not going to do things they're uncomfortable doing to expand the audience. And they want the songs to be liked, but they're going to write what they're moved to write. They're not going to attempt to tailor their sound to what a wider audience is inclined to like. It would be a fool's errand anyway because an entire generation of music listeners has come of age in a world where rock music is on the margins of popular music.
This. And choosing a song like Waiting for Stevie is not going to build a new audience. Like the song but kind of find it an odd choice for a single.
For a rock band filled with 60 year old, building a new audience is a tough ask to even try going for.
Not many bands get the Aerosmith return or the relatively Evergreenish quality of Red Hot Chilip Peppers.
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
PJ was definitely much bigger in 1993/1994 than they are today. The band was buzzing everywhere. Pearl Jam 1994 could be compared with Taylor Swift in 2024 in both sales and mainstream attention.
Pearl Jam would not have filled up 60.000 x 3 shows in Europe in 1994, like TS did this summer in Sweden.
Michael Jackson or whoever (like Guns N Roses) and TS would be a better comparison globally.
Point taken. U2 would be another example i guess. It is Interesting to imagine how big PJ would have become if they had the same itch to thrive as superstars.
Their audience has been growing because of the live shows. They play ballparks and have plenty of traction. They have a sirius channel. Dark Matter is all over apple. They are doing just fine.
Who is arguing that they're not doing fine? That's not the discussion here. It's about whether this single is gaining a new audience for them (or bringing back the old audience that is unaware they're still an active band). Evidence does not suggest that their audience is growing. They sold fewer copies of this record than the last record. They do not stream well and, with rare exceptions, they play arenas, not stadiums. The first two singles got a lot more attention from radio than we've seen with recent albums, but rock radio is a niche format in 2024, and Triple-A is even more niche. They have a Sirius channel because they are a well-known act among a demographic that Sirius targets. Bruce has a Sirius channel, too, but no one can reasonably argue that Bruce's audience is growing.
Can’t compare record sales. This was the First PJ “record” I haven’t purchased, who purchases albums anymore? I can listen on Amazon Music whenever I want
You can compare record sales relative to other artists. There was a time when Pearl Jam was one of the most popular artists in the U.S., and their record sales reflected it. This is a band that sold nearly a million copies of Vs. in a week in 1993. When they did that, no one had ever sold more in a week. The next year, they sold nearly 900,000 copies of Vitalogy in a week. It was the second-highest total up until that date.
In 2024, Pearl Jam is no longer one of the most popular artists in the U.S., and their record sales reflect it. Dark Matter sold 52,000 copies in its first week and was credited with a total of 59,000 units, which includes streaming-equivalent units.* Every single number-one album in 2024 had a higher unit total than Dark Matter. In other words, Pearl Jam went from the all-time record holder in 1993 to a number that wouldn't have been number one in any week of the year. Your argument might make sense if Pearl Jam sold 60,000 records and no one else was selling many more than that, but Dark Matter is not going to rank among the top 100 best-selling albums of 2024.
A valuable thing for everyone to remember is that they shouldn't extrapolate about what other people are doing based on what they themselves are doing. Just because you stopped buying albums, it does not follow that no one buys albums anymore. There are still millions of people buying albums. They're just not buying Pearl Jam albums.
*The paltry total of 7,000 first-week streaming-equivalent units indicates that you might be streaming Pearl Jam's new album on Amazon Music, but not many other people are doing so.
This entire paragraph is meaningless. What about the top selling ROCK records of the year? The top 75 probably do not have any new music from a rock band but I am guessing on that one. You cannot compare Pearl Jam to Taylor Swift, Jelly Roll, or Shaboozey. Pre-digital metrics cannot be used to compare modern day listening habits. It was 30 years ago!! Are there more 10c members now? Are they playing larger venues? Are tickets harder to get? Modern day metrics of sales or even streaming mean nothing these days. People are still file sharing. I suppose the one valid point you made is free that radio is still the most popular listening medium in the country. But probably not for most pearl jam fans. We want to hear the entire record without ads. EDIT and the thread is about a song. Which was played at MSG2 and the band sounded better than ever. I would bet more fans wanted to be there than in 1993.
You're being willfully oblivious at this point. You think that millions of people are secretly file-sharing Pearl Jam even as Pearl Jam's legitimate streaming numbers are minimal? Why doesn't this apply to all the other artists whose streaming numbers crush Pearl Jam's? Pearl Jam is not getting many streams. The reality is that there is a loyal core of people in 2024 who want to hear new material from Pearl Jam, but that audience is nowhere near as large as it was in the 1990s. Many of the people who want to hear new Pearl Jam in 2024 bought the album. Others stream it. (Even in 1993, people didn't listen to the radio to hear full albums.) The reality is that the majority of the Pearl Jam fan base isn't listening to the new material at all.
You are out of your mind if you think the band is more popular in 2024 than it was in 1993. There is no evidence to support that. None. You can assert all you want that more people want to see Pearl Jam perform in 2024 than in 1993 but it doesn't make it true.
None of this is about how good the band is. I'm a card-carrying 30-plus-year member of the fan club. I've seen them 82 times, including 12 times this year. I'm on record as to how great I think the new album is. They've actually never released an album that has disappointed me. Obviously, I think the band is great and has been great for 30 years. That is all beside the point, which had to do with an *objective* assessment of the song's appeal beyond a segment of the core fan base, and what it signified that they decided to release an edited version of the song, and what that would mean for its appeal. The rest of it was in response to your tangential comments that keep missing the point while asserting stuff you're making up.
Their audience has been growing because of the live shows. They play ballparks and have plenty of traction. They have a sirius channel. Dark Matter is all over apple. They are doing just fine.
Who is arguing that they're not doing fine? That's not the discussion here. It's about whether this single is gaining a new audience for them (or bringing back the old audience that is unaware they're still an active band). Evidence does not suggest that their audience is growing. They sold fewer copies of this record than the last record. They do not stream well and, with rare exceptions, they play arenas, not stadiums. The first two singles got a lot more attention from radio than we've seen with recent albums, but rock radio is a niche format in 2024, and Triple-A is even more niche. They have a Sirius channel because they are a well-known act among a demographic that Sirius targets. Bruce has a Sirius channel, too, but no one can reasonably argue that Bruce's audience is growing.
Can’t compare record sales. This was the First PJ “record” I haven’t purchased, who purchases albums anymore? I can listen on Amazon Music whenever I want
You can compare record sales relative to other artists. There was a time when Pearl Jam was one of the most popular artists in the U.S., and their record sales reflected it. This is a band that sold nearly a million copies of Vs. in a week in 1993. When they did that, no one had ever sold more in a week. The next year, they sold nearly 900,000 copies of Vitalogy in a week. It was the second-highest total up until that date.
In 2024, Pearl Jam is no longer one of the most popular artists in the U.S., and their record sales reflect it. Dark Matter sold 52,000 copies in its first week and was credited with a total of 59,000 units, which includes streaming-equivalent units.* Every single number-one album in 2024 had a higher unit total than Dark Matter. In other words, Pearl Jam went from the all-time record holder in 1993 to a number that wouldn't have been number one in any week of the year. Your argument might make sense if Pearl Jam sold 60,000 records and no one else was selling many more than that, but Dark Matter is not going to rank among the top 100 best-selling albums of 2024.
A valuable thing for everyone to remember is that they shouldn't extrapolate about what other people are doing based on what they themselves are doing. Just because you stopped buying albums, it does not follow that no one buys albums anymore. There are still millions of people buying albums. They're just not buying Pearl Jam albums.
*The paltry total of 7,000 first-week streaming-equivalent units indicates that you might be streaming Pearl Jam's new album on Amazon Music, but not many other people are doing so.
This entire paragraph is meaningless. What about the top selling ROCK records of the year? The top 75 probably do not have any new music from a rock band but I am guessing on that one. You cannot compare Pearl Jam to Taylor Swift, Jelly Roll, or Shaboozey. Pre-digital metrics cannot be used to compare modern day listening habits. It was 30 years ago!! Are there more 10c members now? Are they playing larger venues? Are tickets harder to get? Modern day metrics of sales or even streaming mean nothing these days. People are still file sharing. I suppose the one valid point you made is free that radio is still the most popular listening medium in the country. But probably not for most pearl jam fans. We want to hear the entire record without ads. EDIT and the thread is about a song. Which was played at MSG2 and the band sounded better than ever. I would bet more fans wanted to be there than in 1993.
You're being willfully oblivious at this point. You think that millions of people are secretly file-sharing Pearl Jam even as Pearl Jam's legitimate streaming numbers are minimal? Why doesn't this apply to all the other artists whose streaming numbers crush Pearl Jam's? Pearl Jam is not getting many streams. The reality is that there is a loyal core of people in 2024 who want to hear new material from Pearl Jam, but that audience is nowhere near as large as it was in the 1990s. Many of the people who want to hear new Pearl Jam in 2024 bought the album. Others stream it. (Even in 1993, people didn't listen to the radio to hear full albums.) The reality is that the majority of the Pearl Jam fan base isn't listening to the new material at all.
You are out of your mind if you think the band is more popular in 2024 than it was in 1993. There is no evidence to support that. None. You can assert all you want that more people want to see Pearl Jam perform in 2024 than in 1993 but it doesn't make it true.
None of this is about how good the band is. I'm a card-carrying 30-plus-year member of the fan club. I've seen them 82 times, including 12 times this year. I'm on record as to how great I think the new album is. They've actually never released an album that has disappointed me. Obviously, I think the band is great and has been great for 30 years. That is all beside the point, which had to do with an *objective* assessment of the song's appeal beyond a segment of the core fan base, and what it signified that they decided to release an edited version of the song, and what that would mean for its appeal. The rest of it was in response to your tangential comments that keep missing the point while asserting stuff you're making up.
You missed my point trying to drive home your obvious point. No kidding the band was more popular in the 90s captain obvious. I never said they weren't. Stop comparing 90s PJ to the digital age. Apples and oranges. I am far from oblivious or making stuff up but enough of your long winded answers that lack comprehension of my statements and focus on the point you want to make. You win. AD sponsored radio is king. They sold more records in the 90s and were more popular because they played 200s of shows each year. Waiting for Stevie, in a vacuum, will maybe bring in 100 new fans. You win with your comparisons to non-rock acts and 90s metrics. Better discussed over a beer than here.
Still haven't heard it on the local radio stations out here.
...
“Waiting for Stevie” (Live in Seattle)
An all-new video of “Waiting for Stevie” is out now. Captured at the band’s May 30 hometown show, watch as music merges with Dr. Frankenstein’s Laboratory in this transcendental performance.
You missed my point trying to drive home your obvious point. No kidding the band was more popular in the 90s captain obvious. I never said they weren't. Stop comparing 90s PJ to the digital age. Apples and oranges. I am far from oblivious or making stuff up but enough of your long winded answers that lack comprehension of my statements and focus on the point you want to make. You win. AD sponsored radio is king. They sold more records in the 90s and were more popular because they played 200s of shows each year. Waiting for Stevie, in a vacuum, will maybe bring in 100 new fans. You win with your comparisons to non-rock acts and 90s metrics. Better discussed over a beer than here.
1) You said that the band's audience is growing, and that more people wanted to see them in 2024 than in the 1990s.
2) I am not comparing apples and oranges. I'm comparing '90s apples to '90s apples, and '20s oranges to '20s oranges. In the early '90s, Pearl Jam was one of the top-selling artists regardless of genre. In the 2020s, Pearl Jam is not. They're not even one of the top 50 rock artists of 2024 in terms of overall consumption.
3) I did not say that "radio is king." I said, in response to people claiming that "no one listens to radio anymore," that the radio audience is larger than the streaming audience. This section of the thread was about the radio edit of the song.
What *is* your point, and what does it have to do with what we were talking about when you chimed in?
Still haven't heard this incredible song on the local radio stations.
"Wreckage" hit number one at multiple formats and, still, the only time I have heard it on the radio was in Seattle within 15 minutes of leaving the airport in my rental car after coming to town to see the May shows. Last week, I just missed it by about 15 minutes on KCSN in L.A.
Comments
In 2024, Pearl Jam is no longer one of the most popular artists in the U.S., and their record sales reflect it. Dark Matter sold 52,000 copies in its first week and was credited with a total of 59,000 units, which includes streaming-equivalent units.* Every single number-one album in 2024 had a higher unit total than Dark Matter. In other words, Pearl Jam went from the all-time record holder in 1993 to a number that wouldn't have been number one in any week of the year. Your argument might make sense if Pearl Jam sold 60,000 records and no one else was selling many more than that, but Dark Matter is not going to rank among the top 100 best-selling albums of 2024.
A valuable thing for everyone to remember is that they shouldn't extrapolate about what other people are doing based on what they themselves are doing. Just because you stopped buying albums, it does not follow that no one buys albums anymore. There are still millions of people buying albums. They're just not buying Pearl Jam albums.
*The paltry total of 7,000 first-week streaming-equivalent units indicates that you might be streaming Pearl Jam's new album on Amazon Music, but not many other people are doing so.
For the second time, I did not compare Shaboozey to Pearl Jam. I cited data about a Shaboozey song to illustrate that the radio audience is significantly larger than the streaming audience for music, something which some people here fail to recognize because they engage in the fallacy of "I don't listen to the radio anymore, therefore no one else must listen to the radio anymore."
I cannot comprehend how you can possibly believe that Pearl Jam is more popular in 2024 than they were in the 1990s, or that they became more popular after 2006. There is no objective rationale for this claim. You think because people bring their families that means their audience is growing? You're ignoring the millions of people who used to be part of their audience who no longer care. They more than offset the children of a subset of the remaining core group of fans. What Pearl Jam has is a loyal core group of fans and a significant number of more casual fans. Collectively, the group is much smaller than the band's fan base in the early 1990s, when it was arguably the most popular act in any genre in the U.S. for a period of about 18 months.
Melbourne #2 '03
Melbourne #3 '03
Melbourne #1 '06
Melbourne #3 '06
Melbourne '09
Melbourne '14
This entire paragraph is meaningless. What about the top selling ROCK records of the year? The top 75 probably do not have any new music from a rock band but I am guessing on that one. You cannot compare Pearl Jam to Taylor Swift, Jelly Roll, or Shaboozey. Pre-digital metrics cannot be used to compare modern day listening habits. It was 30 years ago!! Are there more 10c members now? Are they playing larger venues? Are tickets harder to get? Modern day metrics of sales or even streaming mean nothing these days. People are still file sharing. I suppose the one valid point you made is free that radio is still the most popular listening medium in the country. But probably not for most pearl jam fans. We want to hear the entire record without ads.
EDIT and the thread is about a song. Which was played at MSG2 and the band sounded better than ever. I would bet more fans wanted to be there than in 1993.
Pearl Jam would not have filled up 60.000 x 3 shows in Europe in 1994, like TS did this summer in Sweden.
Michael Jackson or whoever (like Guns N Roses) and TS would be a better comparison globally.
Not many bands get the Aerosmith return or the relatively Evergreenish quality of Red Hot Chilip Peppers.
You are out of your mind if you think the band is more popular in 2024 than it was in 1993. There is no evidence to support that. None. You can assert all you want that more people want to see Pearl Jam perform in 2024 than in 1993 but it doesn't make it true.
None of this is about how good the band is. I'm a card-carrying 30-plus-year member of the fan club. I've seen them 82 times, including 12 times this year. I'm on record as to how great I think the new album is. They've actually never released an album that has disappointed me. Obviously, I think the band is great and has been great for 30 years. That is all beside the point, which had to do with an *objective* assessment of the song's appeal beyond a segment of the core fan base, and what it signified that they decided to release an edited version of the song, and what that would mean for its appeal. The rest of it was in response to your tangential comments that keep missing the point while asserting stuff you're making up.
You missed my point trying to drive home your obvious point. No kidding the band was more popular in the 90s captain obvious. I never said they weren't. Stop comparing 90s PJ to the digital age. Apples and oranges. I am far from oblivious or making stuff up but enough of your long winded answers that lack comprehension of my statements and focus on the point you want to make. You win. AD sponsored radio is king. They sold more records in the 90s and were more popular because they played 200s of shows each year. Waiting for Stevie, in a vacuum, will maybe bring in 100 new fans. You win with your comparisons to non-rock acts and 90s metrics. Better discussed over a beer than here.
“Waiting for Stevie” (Live in Seattle)
2) I am not comparing apples and oranges. I'm comparing '90s apples to '90s apples, and '20s oranges to '20s oranges. In the early '90s, Pearl Jam was one of the top-selling artists regardless of genre. In the 2020s, Pearl Jam is not. They're not even one of the top 50 rock artists of 2024 in terms of overall consumption.
3) I did not say that "radio is king." I said, in response to people claiming that "no one listens to radio anymore," that the radio audience is larger than the streaming audience. This section of the thread was about the radio edit of the song.
What *is* your point, and what does it have to do with what we were talking about when you chimed in?
Having said that, I've never heard it on there since I barely listen to terrestrial radio anymore...
I see that WFS is #13 on "Active Rock" this week per Mediabase: https://www2.mediabase.com/mbapp/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=/mbapp/&hc=339c174d-dc68-4aa1-bb22-5e4ffa4bf6fa
Up 4 spots from last week.