The Business of Pearl Jam

KV4053 wrote:

Somebody ought to write a book about the Business of Pearl Jam.

From a business perspective, they have and continue to break new ground on a various fronts, not only for themselves, but also the music industry and future/upcoming bands.

When viewed through the lens of history, I predict they will be seen as innovative, both from a musical perspective but also as a business enterprise.

In case 10C is reading, I volunteer to research and write it.

Ahr Mann wrote:

KV4053 wrote:

Somebody ought to write a book about the Business of Pearl Jam.

From a business perspective, they have and continue to break new ground on a various fronts, not only for themselves, but also the music industry and future/upcoming bands.

When viewed through the lens of history, I predict they will be seen as innovative, both from a musical perspective but also as a business enterprise.

In case 10C is reading, I volunteer to research and write it.

Hey, I love me some Pearl Jam, but I wouldn't call their business model (or, to a lesser extent, their music) "innovative". What did they do that changed anything for upcoming bands or the industry in general? Not trying to troll, genuinely curious...

quimby20 wrote:

No,,,, the Dead allowed you to record their shows for FREE... Big difference to charging 9.99 for a download

Gmoney wrote:

I would say that they've followed their own path as a business entity, and that path has been somewhat innovative.
-Not doing videos or interviews when they were as hot as any band in the world. Especially the video part, videos and MTV were a religion in the early 90's and they proved you could survive without doing them.
-Fighting ticketmaster. Win or lose, they were a band who said that the art and fan experience of their live show was more important than making money. This was a pretty cutting edge stance to take at the time.
-The releasing of all of their live shows was pretty ground breaking as well.
-Also they became their own record label at a time when any major would have signed them... Signing only distribution deals opposed to a full deal.

Ledbetterman10 wrote:

Ahr Mann wrote:

Bootlegs: I see this as cool way for the band to generate revenue (nothing wrong with that), rather than innovative. But it is great for the fans that have a few extra $$$ lying around (I've purchased a-plenty of them myself)

I couldn't disagree more with this. Nowadays there are dozens of bands that release every show and I can't think of one that did it before Pearl Jam in 2000. It actually might be the most innovative thing the band's ever done. Especially doing it on disc in 2000 before everything became digital. I think you're being a total curmudgeon dismissing it as just another way to generate money. Would they have done it if they thought it wouldn't generate money? Of course not. That'd be bad business. But I'm sure the idea was conceived as new way to distribute music first with monetary logistics worked out afterward.

Ahr Mann wrote:

Ledbetterman10 wrote:

Ahr Mann wrote:

Bootlegs: I see this as cool way for the band to generate revenue (nothing wrong with that), rather than innovative. But it is great for the fans that have a few extra $$$ lying around (I've purchased a-plenty of them myself)

I couldn't disagree more with this. Nowadays there are dozens of bands that release every show and I can't think of one that did it before Pearl Jam in 2000. It actually might be the most innovative thing the band's ever done. Especially doing it on disc in 2000 before everything became digital. I think you're being a total curmudgeon dismissing it as just another way to generate money. Would they have done it if they thought it wouldn't generate money? Of course not. That'd be bad business. But I'm sure the idea was conceived as new way to distribute music first with monetary logistics worked out afterward.

Hey now...I went out of my way *not* to sound curmudgeonly (clearly, not far enough ).


I just don't think releasing concerts on CD can be considered innovative, regardless of the context. But I'm sure as f*ck glad they did, as I have a crapload of them spilling off the shelf...

Edved007 wrote:

In grad school I actually remember Pearl Jam being referenced in a text book regarding how many "albums" they have been able to sell. They were counting all studio albums, LD, and all the bootlegs they could count. After thing gig with Epic was up I don't know how much data there is since they don't need to really share it any more, but it was staggering that through their release of every show how many times the cash register was pulled. You can not aruge that by the release of the boots and creating almost a false demand by all the limited merch that it creates an amazing business model... and you can bark all you want about secondary market prices because they don't relase more of an item, but it creates the buzz and the demand for the prodct, and they have been able to sustain that like no one else. it's actually incredible.