Man of the hour

laura · Status: Offline

Man of the hour

Sarah · Status: Offline

Haven't ordered my copy yet, but I probably will a little closer to the Holidays: A present to myself, as it were!

Do you know if $7 is a "universal" price, or is it $7 in U.S. funds that needs to be converted? I ask because unfortunately for me, Ten Club considers Canada under their "International" rates and with our dollar not as prosperous as the States', combined with the higher shipping rates, I've always found that purchasing through the 10C tends to really do a number on my wallet.

Pricing aside, I'm majorly excited that PJ seems to be considering this form of distribution and allowing us access to songs with such a quick turnaround, in the sense of there being such a short time between the literal creation of a tune and how quickly we can be playing it on our stereos. The last few times I've waited around for Pearl Jam singles, Canada, for some reason, has been HUGELY behind the States in terms of when we were receiving the goods in stores. For example, the "Save You" and "Love Boat Captain" singles didn't show up on the racks until mid-April! Plus, I've found that we end up paying some pretty serious import-style prices for singles as well... $10-13 a pop for the likes of "Wishlist", etc.! (Not that I of course didn't end up paying and/or waiting with these arrangements!)

Also, I keep going back to quotes from the bandmembers over the past two years or so regarding the label split, and I can't help but hope that they follow through on some of the ideas they were alluding to, like maybe releasing shorter EP-style stuff on a more frequent basis. Methinks this whole "Man Of The Hour" offer is a step in that direction!

laura · Status: Offline

I don't really know about universal prices.. from what I can make out, you canadians sometimes get a rough ride when it comes to pricing/postage?

Man of the Hour is very exciting and if this article is anything to go by, it looks like a roraing success!

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/17/technology/17jam.html?ex=1070064232&ei=1&en=442fc241192fdc48

Pearl Jam, on Its Own, Seizes the Moment and Sells CD on the Web

By CHRIS NELSON

Published: November 17, 2003

hen Pearl Jam's contract with Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records expired earlier this year, how the iconoclastic band would exploit its new freedom quickly became a topic of great interest to music industry executives.

The band's manager, Kelly Curtis, assumed that he had until next year to decide how the band would distribute its work now that it controlled its own master recordings. But the future arrived earlier than Mr. Curtis had expected when the band came up with a new song called "Man of the Hour." Mr. Curtis and the band had to figure out how to get the song to fans.

Two days after the band's Web site, pearljam.com, began accepting orders on Nov. 10, almost 4,800 CD's had been sold, Mr. Curtis said. By way of comparison, the top-selling single for the two weeks ended Nov. 9 has been the Christian band MercyMe's "I Can Only Imagine," which sold more than 7,000 copies both weeks, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"Man of the Hour" was also made available for streamed listening on RealNetworks' music Web site (music.real.com) and immediately became the most popular free track on the site, a company spokesman, Matt Graves, said. The single will be available for purchase tomorrow as a download through Apple Computer's iTunes.

"The song kind of happened super-quick, kind of out of nowhere," Mr. Curtis said. In late September, the director Tim Burton asked Pearl Jam to contribute a tune to his film "Big Fish," which will be released in New York and Los Angeles next month.

Pearl Jam is known for raging against the music industry machine with endeavors like taking antitrust action against Ticketmaster in 1994 and releasing scores of live albums from each of its last two tours.

Rather than signing with a single worldwide entertainment corporation, Mr. Curtis said last summer that he would explore an assemblage of deals that could involve major labels in some countries, independents in others and self-releases in the United States.

Making 50,000 copies of "Man of the Hour" and issuing the song for streaming and downloading is an initial step to determine what the band is capable of on its own, Mr. Curtis said. "It's a way for us to get our feet wet and see what works for us and where we need help."

Pearl Jam made its deal for the movie directly with Sony Pictures Entertainment. The song will also be available on the film's soundtrack, which will be released next month - by Epic Records.

psycosmic · Status: Offline

i noticed the same thing about the cd/vinyl section at tenclub.net...

i hope that there's more to come...

but then again i'd prefer ep's and not only singles... i don't like buying singles... i know, i'm a lazy bastard, but it's just more convenient to put on lost dogs to listen to otherside instead of having to get out my lbc single for just one song...

"Two days after the band's Web site, pearljam.com, began accepting orders on Nov. 10, almost 4,800 CD's had been sold, Mr. Curtis said. By way of comparison, the top-selling single for the two weeks ended Nov. 9 has been the Christian band MercyMe's "I Can Only Imagine," which sold more than 7,000 copies both weeks, according to Nielsen SoundScan."

although i'm quite weak at maths, i can figure out that 4,800 copies sold within two days would equal 33,600 in two weeks... but i highly doubt that this is going to happen... it's only the die-hard fans that know about it... but i don't really think that they care about the sales that much...

then again, this makes it so much more special to be a pearl jam fan

psycosmic · Status: Offline

i finally received my single!!!

pushing play for the first time as we speak...