Pearl Jam to offer 'bootleg' downloads
Published: August 25, 2005, 6:03 AM PDT
By Reuters


NEW YORK--Already at the forefront of issuing authorized "live bootlegs" of its shows, Pearl Jam will on Sept. 1 launch its own digital download store via its official Web site.

Hours after their completion, full concerts from the group's fall tour will be available for $9.99 as 192K MP3s, whose bit rate is almost 50 percent higher than the standard.

Each show will feature special artwork, including a slide show with photos from the performance that will run while the files download. The initial plan is to make all of Pearl Jam's upcoming shows in Canada and the United States available to download, excluding an Aug. 29 concert in Missoula, Mont., that is doubling as a fund-raiser for U.S. Senate hopeful Jon Tester.

As with past incarnations of the bootlegs, which were initially available only on CD, the material will be mixed on the fly by longtime Pearl Jam engineer Brett Eliason. Eliason's company, Basecamp Productions, also developed the software to power the download store.

The idea to embark on such an endeavor has been floating around the Pearl Jam camp for several years. "The thing we were looking for was a really good way to manage the thing," Tim Bierman, manager of Pearl Jam's Ten Club fan organization, told Billboard.com. "That's where Basecamp came in. They developed a killer application I'm really confident the fans are going to love."

In an interesting twist, the files will be encoded without DRM (digital rights management) restrictions, allowing them to be burned to CD and transferred to portable MP3 players. Select material will also be available from digital services such as the iTunes music store.






Previous Next Bierman said plans are not finalized for a potential CD component of the bootleg series, but acknowledged that the band "may make a limited number of the best shows from the tour available on CD via the Ten Club. We're going to wait to hear back from the fans about how the system is going so far."

During a recent round of beta testing of the initiative, a live version of "Rats" from a 1994 show in Boston was made available for download. Could that portend the release of vintage shows from the archive?

"Down the road, we're also planning, based on fan feedback, a program that would dip into the vaults and find some of those great shows," Bierman said. "That's the beauty of having Brett involved. Not only do we have the input from the fans, but we have the input of the guy who has been there the whole time."

Since launching in 2000, Pearl Jam has sold more than 3 million copies of shows from the bootleg series, according to a spokesperson for the group.


Story Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

wow.everything we ever asked for. heads will be rolling over this.

That's cool

As long as it is authorized by the creater.

The balance of copyright law shares the public interest and the author/artists needs, and it should be fulfilled.

If a consumer wants to copy a CD, let them. If they want to copy a videogame, let them. Consumers should have the broadest amount of flexibility while the security is needed to keep the copyright under control.

As technology grows, we should respect the growth of the consumer flexibility while the industry expands it's marketing. And, the consumer must be given more easy access to the content provider to serve the consumer's needs. New innovations should grow both the content provider and the consumer fields, and that how it should be done.

Bands like thgis will find people are willing to pay "them". Yeah their stuff will also appear on the p2p networks..but so what? The sales will do just fine.

There are several bands around my area who have made some local success and they put out cd's with no drm. The funny part is they sell the cd's like crazy even tho anyone of us have the sonbgs alreay as mp3's...its about having the package is the thing. RIAA and Co. don't understand this. They could offer every damn song they have as a free download and it increases their CD sales.

I don't have a quick answer to why this would be..but all I know is that it just does.

If they would fuck off and allow some of the back catalogue stuff that you can't buy anywhere be available for free..music fans would get enthusiastic about music again and the resulkt would be sales for them.

If they would just try it for gods sakes

Consumers should have the broadest amount of flexibility while the security is needed to keep the copyright under control."

Impossible. even the strictists DRM has been cracked. If consumers have flexibility, so do the the infringers.

"There are several bands around my area who have made some local success and they put out cd's with no drm. The funny part is they sell the cd's like crazy...They could offer every damn song they have as a free download and it increases their CD sales."

Couldn't have said it better.

I hate Pearl Jam and the overbearing pompous blowhard Eddie Vedder, but I do like the way they do business. They should raise the quality of their mp3's though. I thought I remember reading that Phish offers lossless downloads of their shows - PJ should do the same.

$9.99 sounds a bit pricey to me when all your getting is a download of the concert from the band's authorized source. If they included a disc (even if just a recordable one) along with packaging, liner notes, etc. Then maybe it would be worth it. But all you get is the right to download???

Make it $1 and have the option for uncompressed 16 bit audio if you are willing to wait for the download time with bigger files.

Oh well, at LEAST they are not using DRM.

dang, mroop.. Lighten up!! Other folks on dmusic may hate your "overbearing pompous blowhard" self, but I find it valuable. Sorta like finding the gold nugget in the surrounding clay..