PEARL JAM 2008 BOOTLEG PROGRAM06.10.08

Pearl Jam will expand their bootleg program for the upcoming 2008 tour to include three different options for fans seeking to obtain bootleg recordings of the live shows. High-quality digital downloads and burn-to-order CDs of the entire show will be available following each show date exclusively via the Ten Club, at http://www.pearljam.com. In addition, mobile bootlegs of three live tracks per show will be released following the show on V CAST Music phones and at http://www.pearljamconcerts.com through Verizon Wireless.

"Pearl Jam continues to explore new and innovative ways to get their music to their fans," said Ten Club Manager Tim Bierman. "As we have learned from our younger fans, more and more listeners are accessing their music through their mobile phones." Continued Bierman, "Since Verizon Wireless and V CAST are at the forefront of that technology, this collaboration makes perfect sense to us. With our proven track record of delivering high quality bootleg downloads and CDs, we feel this new approach will not only benefit our fans, but provide an exciting opportunity to share Pearl Jam's music in a more interactive setting."

Digital Bootleg Downloads
Full concert digital downloads will be available exclusively at http://www.pearljam.com. Digital downloads of full Pearl Jam shows will be available for download two weeks after each concert in mp3 and FLAC formats. The price for the digital bootlegs will be $9.99 (mp3) and $14.99 (FLAC) per show.

Powered by Internap (INAP), the digital bootlegs are high-resolution digital files released without DRM (Digital Rights Management) so that fans can burn them to disc, transfer to them to MP3 players, or play them from their hard drives.

Made-to-order Bootleg CDs
In addition to digital bootlegs, Pearl Jam is launching a new physical CD program for this tour. CDs will be manufactured according to customer demand and will ship within three weeks of each show date. CDs will be made-to-order using recycled material. The price for hard copy bootlegs is $16.99/show and will be available exclusively through http://www.pearljam.com.

Mobile Bootlegs
By request from fans who are increasingly accessing their music via their mobile phones, Pearl Jam will debut mobile bootlegs as part of the 2008 US Tour. Each stop of the tour, Pearl Jam will provide three (3) stand-out tracks per concert mixed in real-time and released via Verizon Wireless' V CAST Music service or http://www.pearljamconcerts.com. Following each show, Verizon Wireless will offer fans one (1) full-length track as a free mobile bootlegs download with two (2) additional tracks available for purchase. All three tracks will also be available for purchase as ringtones and ringback tones.

All of Pearl Jam's bootlegs recordings will be professionally mixed in real-time at each show to create the mobile bootlegs. Pearl Jam's recording engineer will mix the recordings on the Verizon Mobile Recording Studio Bus.

Both the mobile and new burn-to-order CD options are an extension of Pearl Jam's official bootleg CD program, which was initially launched on the band's 2000 world tour in an effort to provide fans with high-quality, affordable bootlegs of their lives shows. Since the program's inception, over 3.5 million bootlegs have been sold.

Pearl Jam's twelve-date 2008 U.S. Tour kicks off June 11th in West Palm Beach and wraps up on June 30th in Boston. For a full list of Pearl Jam's tour dates, please visit http://www.pearljam.com.

I like it! I'll just ignore the V Cast garbage. the program satisfies everyone, and I think they went beyond the call of duty with the physical CDs, but I hope they do well.

Excellent.

Applauds loudly. Well done PJ.

Flac works for me, and the 2 week delay should hopefully help the mixing/remastering process out.

:happycamper:

I can definately wait the two weeks time to get the shows. It will definately make for better mixing.

This is totally kick-ass.

I'll probably buy CDs of the shows I go to, then download a few of the higher-rated ones (FLAC, of course.) When they stop charging I'll download 'em all . Hopefully 2006 torrent style.

And waiting a week or two or three or even a little more isn't a big deal at all.

If these shows were in small clubs I'd buy everyone in the band a shot

I noticed they mention 12 shows, so that means Bonnaroo and the Beacon show will not be released. Does Bonnaroo usually release FLAC, or just MP3's?

Bonnaroo is doing an iTunes release this year. No indication if PJ will be included yet.

wtf? what are we supposed to complain about now?

V-Cast...sellouts

I'm winking about it, but I am sure someone will really be upset about that.

it's lame, but i can overlook it

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO HAPPY THAT I'M TYPING IN ALL CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU PJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hard CDs. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. Anyone who complains about anything in regards to this announcement can take a long dive off a short cliff into a shallow pool. And then go crawl back beneath the rock they momentarily left.

p.p.s. I think the V-Cast thing is sorta cool. Ex. PJ just rocked "Rats" at MSG. Five minutes after the show, you might get to hear it on your phone. Pretty f'n cool.

I really don't know how this is different than doing a verizon commercial...or putting a verizon banner behind the stage...but whatever...



http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003814619

There are other interesting things in that article. No download manager? Will we see the site crash as everyone jumps on at once to get the same file? Why not use torrents? Do I need to end every one of my sentences with a question mark? How can I make it stop?

Define irony:

Verizon back in the day was part of ma bell, AT&T, who censored Ed a year ago...haha.

By the way, I'm pro 'big business' and have no problem with a band making money off of them, to an extent. But just don't be a hypocrite about it. This is the first time, ever, Pearl Jam has taken to corporate sponsorship...am I wrong? Kind of monumental.

They aren't doing it to reach out to the cell phone user...hahahahhahahahahhahahaa

i'm thrilled that the boots are back, and that there are hard copies

I have no real problems with this cell phone stuff. I think it's kind of silly, but if that's the worst thing I can say about it than they are in good shape

Holy fuck the 10C did something right!

If you think this is the first time PJ has used corporate sponsorship, you're clueless. PJ has used corporate sponsorship since 1991 -- they were on a MAJOR label, bro. Moreover, they've worked with corporate sponsos throughout their career. Hell, every time PJ plays an arena, they are supporting corporations (arenas are sponsored by corporations, dig?).

PJ has worked with corporate concert promoters since 2000 (Live Nation, SFX). They've had the majority of their LPs distributed and sold by corporations. And in '06 they engaged in a few corporate promotion tie-ins. Most recently, Ed's "Into the Wild" involvement received corporate promotion.

Do they flaunt it? No.

Do they sell out as bad and as often as every other big band in the world? No.

But they are a big band. And I hate to break it to you and every armchair PJ critic in the world, but PJ would have never become a big band or still be around today without playing the game.

Lastly, who said PJ were being hyporcites? That's the type of lazy criticism that is just ... sad. And misinformed. Stone is on record saying that PJ understands the money game and that PJ doesn't play shows or release music to lose money. And while good old Ed Ved rails often rails against corporations on stage and in lyrics -- and I and many others proudly love him for doing it -- he's never EVER made some blanket statement like "We will never receive corportate money or work with corporations." Ian McKaye would; Ed wouldn't.

God. I hate PJ fans sometimes. Do some research. Get a clue. But whining about PJ's hypocritical stance because of some tiny V-Cast tie-in when they just made a MAJOR bootleg announcement that should be pleasing every die-hard, longtime fan is exactly why I imagine no one in the band wastes time on PJ message boards.