Monday, June 1, 2009

All of the Rumors Have Been Confirmed



      
  • Yes, you're going to hear at least one new song tonight on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.


      
  • It has also been confirmed that, Yes, despite the bemoaning of many a fan, the song called "The Fixer" that Pearl Jam was recording at the Showbox this past weekend will be part of a Cameron Crowe-produced Target ad.  Will there be a Target-exclusive tie-in to the release of Backspacer?  We do not yet know that.


Here is an excerpt from the Billboard article where Kelly Curtis discusses the Target partnership:

Curtis also confirmed that the band would tour to support this latest album, and that internationally, the album would be released via Universal Music Group.


"I make decisions around the band's business that are consistent with their overall philosophy," said Curtis, "which is to sell music in a way that's accessible and affordable to their fans, on every distribution platform that their fans access music, and in a way that takes care of the little guys.

"Everyone's making assumptions because Target is a big corporation," said Curtis. "Its important to remember we just got out of this 18 year relationship with Sony, and I'm pretty sure they are a bigger corporation than Target. We have the freedom to pick our partners and more control when we've ever had before. We're excited to choose who we're in business with."

Curtis says it was important to him and to the band to redefine the notion of an "exclusive" retail partnership. "I appreciate the efforts of bands like AC/DC and Radiohead," says the manager, alluding to two of the bands that have self-released albums recently. "But I wanted our plan to be multi-dimensional to address old and modern ways of fans accessing music. It will allow all of our fans to have the same access."

"This is an ongoing experiment," said Curtis. "Every time we do something it's new for us, and were not trying to tackle the whole world at once. All we've been searching for forever is independence and control over our own stuff. The way of releasing records is changing every day. This is the best way we could do it ourselves in America. Right or wrong, we'll figure that out and make it better the next time." 
Want to discuss it futher, head over to the Red Mosquito Forum.