Does Pearl Jam Have an Effective Strategy Against Napster?
A few days ago, USA Today reported that Pearl Jam continues to set industry records in the wake of their unprecedented concurrent release of 25 albums. They have now succeeded in putting five of those albums into the Billboard Top 200 in the first week that they were eligible. This is the first time that any recording artist has placed any more than two new releases or more than one live album on the Top 200 at the same time.
We wonder if these low cost, live albums are the future of the traditional recording industry. They certainly provide Pearl Jam fans with an appealing alternative to poor quality bootlegs distributed through Napster.
In spite of the fact that we don't generally agree with the band's political views, they are quite entertaining. And they certainly have used the normal distribution channels in a savvy way with these releases.
We already purchased the Katowice, Poland concert referred to in the USA Today article. We are likely to purchase others as well.