Pearl Jam's Internet Distribution Strategy Working So Far

Culture

from the not-so-hard,-is-it? dept

Earlier this year we wrote about how Pearl Jam finished up their contract with Sony Music and had decided to push forward independently with an internet distribution model. While they’re still figuring out how it will work for full length albums, it appears to be doing just fine for singles. While they haven’t fully embraced digital distribution, they’ve successfully sold a bunch of CDs of a new single from their own site, and it’s received plenty of listens on RealNetworks – where it was available to stream for free. On Monday, it will be available for purchase on iTunes. The band is using this as something of a test to see what they can do with music. Hopefully, they’ll go even further into offering up music for free that doesn’t come with restrictions, and use that to sell additional goods and services – whether its CDs, concert tickets, access to the band or whatever. No matter what they do, you can bet that many bands and record industry execs will be watching closely.