June 12th, 2008
Pearl Jam's Idea: Buyable Live Recordings in Multiple Formats
Coming in a day late, yet still completely free, is today’s music note: Pearl Jam’s 2008 Bootleg Program. Now Pearl Jam is one of my curious bands from my College Life Mach I. I first heard them while I was attending College A(that’s what we’ll call it in effort for me to remain distanced and objective).
Totally Skippable Flashback Sequence
Growing up in the middle of nowhere has its perks but one of those is not an influx of new music. At home I had the mainstream movies and TV giving me peeks at what I was missing. High School was new music hell. It was a place and time that all anyone breathed, thought and drank was hip hop. To this day, I know I would not be as bored with the genre if I wasn’t near drowned in it for half a decade.
Cut to the early 90s. I hit the college scene. Being surrounded by music, people and ideas that were new and different. It was a bit off-putting at first. That morphed into fucking fantastic pretty damn quick. It was during this time Charles introduced me to Pearl Jam‘s TEN. I knew I would never be the same again. I followed their sound as best I could. ( Remember kids, The Internet wasn’t as user friendly to as it is now.) I shudder to think how things would have turned if I had access to a proper Internets back in those days.
I grabbed up each and every new album. I just wanted that same feeling again. Each one had their moments but none ever lived up to TEN. Even so, I kept and eye on what they were up to. Their failed, yet inspiring, battle with Ticketmaster. Temple of the Dog.
Nowadays it’s their social battles that hold my interest. How they use their fame to affect change or the new ways they aim to get music to their fans. I like how they don’t crap on their fanbase like a lot of the “Big Bands” past and present.
What You Really Want to Know: 2008 Bootleg Programme
I’ve learned, by way of their myspace, Pearl Jam’s expanding on their Bootleg Program. Two weeks after each concert jam, you’ll be able to buy the digital bootlegs in mp3 or, the more awesome(yet space consuming),FLAC formats at a reasonable price.
For those of you who only want PJ streamed through their Intertubes and want nothing to do with this payment business, you can visit Pearl Jam Live.com. They’ve got concerts listed back to 1990. I can’t tell you about their quality because the site does not seem to like Firefox. The third browser crash gave me that clue.
If you must have the physical evidence of you Pearl Jam love in your hands, that can be arranged too. Also, Mobile Bootlegs of 3 stand-out tracks per concert. This is offered through Verizon, of course, because AT&T would never think to jump onto something quite as useful. Complete details for each are provided at Pearl Jam’s MySpace.
Who knew MySpace was still useful much less relevant?
While PJ, on the other hand, remains innovative well into the 21st Century.
