Thoughts on why 2nd single released so early?

poison · February 2020

Just wanted to throw this out there and see if I’m missing something. Am I wrong that this isn’t typically normal for PJ or any band to release a 2nd single this fast. I mean the album hasn’t even been released yet. So in my mind this is a sign that DOTC is admittedly a flop in their mind or maybe this is something new bands do now days and I’m just old. I wouldn’t think PJ would care if a song was a hit that they had to rush out a 2nd single again maybe I’m wrong. Either way I’m loving me some SBWM more and more after every listen.

KN219077 · February 2020

All the old ways of doing things are gone. I miss the old days of a few evenly spaced singles from an album being released.

poison · February 2020

Something doesn’t add up regarding releasing a new single this fast. I’m sure others have their opinions I’d love to hear

Vedd Hedd · February 2020

People have short attention spans today. If you release a single 2 years before the album comes out, they wont remember it.

If you do it like this, it keeps the momentum going.

hihobibo · February 2020

It allows them to uniquely promote each song using new apps providing buzz to each track they release over a long period of time, rather than dumping everything to Spotify at once, and getting a weekend worth of news like Eminem just did. Face it, it's not like there are radio stations that would play these singles, as they don't fit a typical format. Green Day gets on new rock alternative channels, but Pearl Jam may only get on hard rock stations, and that's usually going to be songs from Ten.

LaFleur · February 2020

Also gets more new music out before the tour starts....in 4 weeks! 😁

Travels With · February 2020

I don't think this release is a reaction to the reception of DOTC (which I also can't stop playing). If I remember, a website (maybe pearljamonline) listed release dates for DOTC and SBWM at the same time. I think they had it listed for 2/21 not 2/18 but darn close. This appears to be part of the plan all along.

BF25394 · February 2020

This is the way things are done now. "Singles" aren't the same as they used to be. Regardless of the promotional approach, for an act like Pearl Jam in 2020, it's not going to make much of a difference. They cannot get mainstream radio play-- there is literally not a single rock song on the current Billboard Hot 100-- and streams for these songs will be and have been minimal for a band this well-known. (All four official versions of the video for "Dance Of The Clairvoyants" have totaled 5.8 million combined views after three weeks. By way of comparison, a single version of Billie Eilish's top 10 pop song (and number one alternative song) "Everything I Wanted," released at about the same time, has 44 million YouTube views in three weeks.)

The album will debut in the top 5 on the strength of first-week sales to diehard fans and then it will plummet because the fan base beyond the diehards is hollowed out and there won't be significant streaming. (And there's no way to track the repeated listens by the 100,000 people who buy the album the first week.)

unforgiven · February 2020

BF25394 said:

This is the way things are done now. "Singles" aren't the same as they used to be. Regardless of the promotional approach, for an act like Pearl Jam in 2020, it's not going to make much of a difference. They cannot get mainstream radio play-- there is literally not a single rock song on the current Billboard Hot 100-- and streams for these songs will be and have been minimal for a band this well-known. (All four official versions of the video for "Dance Of The Clairvoyants" have totaled 5.8 million combined views after three weeks. By way of comparison, a single version of Billie Eilish's top 10 pop song (and number one alternative song) "Everything I Wanted," released at about the same time, has 44 million YouTube views in three weeks.)

The album will debut in the top 5 on the strength of first-week sales to diehard fans and then it will plummet because the fan base beyond the diehards is hollowed out and there won't be significant streaming. (And there's no way to track the repeated listens by the 100,000 people who buy the album the first week.)

Glad I live in Australia, both Dance a SBWM were played and discussed on mainstream national radio shows here within 15 mins of them being released! Have Heard dance on the radio everyday since it was released.

dresi_4 · February 2020

DOTC was released four weeks ago. There is nothing unusual about releasing one single per month. It's a standard practice and all bands/artists do it.

JimmyV · February 2020

They want to sell some albums this time around.

mpedone · February 2020

Pretty sure SBWM was announced (or at least heavily rumored) as dropping this week before DOTC even came out. So, unless the band thought DOTC was going to flop before they released it, I don't think the timing of the 2nd single has anything to do with the success/failure of the 1st.

erocshifty · February 2020

Seems like this could be the new norm for some bands? Both Metallica and RHCP released 3 songs before their latest albums came out back in 2016.

mrk2 · February 2020

Totally normal to release 2 - 3 songs from a new album to build hype for the actual release.

Tim Simmons · February 2020

God remember when releasing a single 3-4 months before a release was the norm and then you'd get another like a week or 2 out from the album?

Old release cycles were so stupid. While I'd like shit to just surprise drop more, decreasing the build up to 2ish months is way more reasonable.

Dr.Teeth and the Electric Mayh · February 2020

Pretty sure the new Strokes was announced last week and they’ve already dropped two singles for it.

xjoshfromworkx · February 2020

Vedd Hedd said:

People have short attention spans today. If you release a single 2 years before the album comes out, they wont remember it.

If you do it like this, it keeps the momentum going.

It's true, I'm trying to forget "Can't Deny Me".

guitar101 · February 2020

I dont think its unusual at all these days to be honest. Also, it was clearly in the initial promotional plan for the start, so I doubt it was any sort of response to the lackluster performance of DOTC. I kind of doubt they expected DOTC to be a radio hit.

Ledbetterman10 · February 2020

Yeah just a new way of doing it. In the old days, usually the second single didn't come out until after the album, and the only reason to grab it was for the b-sides or just to collect them. And I would actually do that: like run down to the store the day the Wishlist single was released for "U" and a live version of "Brain of J"

pjsteelerfan · February 2020

Its a good thing. At the Pittsburgh show in 2013, no one knew most of the new songs and it showed. A great crowd, but it would have been even better if people had heard the new songs.

Tim Simmons · February 2020

IDK if anyone has said this yet, but the music industry does things differently now.

faithful2you · February 2020

I don't think it has anything to do with DOTC or whatever we're calling it. With all the odd marketing stuff they've been doing for this album it's obvious they're doing it however they want. Not only has the industry changed completely since the 1990's and 2000's......it's changed even more since their last album release.

evenflow82 · February 2020

I was thinking this earlier today, like what is up with the rapid release of the singles? The commercial end of music is so wide open right now. I have a feeling many music radio stations will die within the next five to ten years and the old model will be gone.

I'm so unaware of how business is done in the music now. But PJ also isn't really on the cutting edge of anything either, so who knows.

jesselms · February 2020

Will we get a third single before the album?

HughFreakingDillon · February 2020

Big Wreck (canadian band) released 3 singles prior to album release. About the same amount of time in between as this.

Tim Simmons · February 2020

jesselms said:

Will we get a third single before the album?

Most likely. We still have another month to go.

Zod · February 2020

evenflow82 said:

I was thinking this earlier today, like what is up with the rapid release of the singles? The commercial end of music is so wide open right now. I have a feeling many music radio stations will die within the next five to ten years and the old model will be gone.

I'm so unaware of how business is done in the music now. But PJ also isn't really on the cutting edge of anything either, so who knows.

I don't get it either. I like Greta Van Fleet and they put out something like 5 songs before their last album dropped. It felt like half the album.

Radio seems to look more in the rearview than forward. I guess it's about social media? Having people you are into your stuff sharing the youtube links and getting the word out there that it's coming out.

Generally I think at this point people who buy albums are going to buy the album. You just have to get them to know it's going out. Releasing a bunch of singles probably generates a bunch of extra streaming revenue or ticket sales. Or it's free advertising..... I don't know really... All I know is excessive singles is now a thing. I'm not sure how common it is to release them after album drops now?

HughFreakingDillon · February 2020

Zod said:

evenflow82 said:

I was thinking this earlier today, like what is up with the rapid release of the singles? The commercial end of music is so wide open right now. I have a feeling many music radio stations will die within the next five to ten years and the old model will be gone.

I'm so unaware of how business is done in the music now. But PJ also isn't really on the cutting edge of anything either, so who knows.

I don't get it either. I like Greta Van Fleet and they put out something like 5 songs before their last album dropped. It felt like half the album.

Radio seems to look more in the rearview than forward. I guess it's about social media? Having people you are into your stuff sharing the youtube links and getting the word out there that it's coming out.

Generally I think at this point people who buy albums are going to buy the album. You just have to get them to know it's going out. Releasing a bunch of singles probably generates a bunch of extra streaming revenue or ticket sales. Or it's free advertising..... I don't know really... All I know is excessive singles is now a thing. I'm not sure how common it is to release them after album drops now?

i've thought this for a while. it bugs me that I end up "having" to buy the singles and then the album later. it's my own fault, I don't really stream, I buy music. I buy the singles as they come out. if it's something I also buy physical copies of (fave bands and canadian bands), then I'm buying duplicates. however, I don't really mind giving canadian artists that slight boost, however small it may be.

Thoughts on why 2nd single released so early?

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