Pearl Jam, Epic parting ways

Pearl Jam Exits Epic

By Josh Grossberg
E! Online

Pearl Jam is walking the long road...away from their longtime label.

The grunge-rock survivors have served notice that they're exiting the Sony-owned Epic Records after fulfilling the terms of its contract.

The Seattle quintet quietly announced the split in the Q&A section of its Sony-run Rumour Pit Website. Sandwiched between questions about where the band is playing concerts and whether it will ever play the controversial anti-White House song "Bu$hleaguer" (answer: "Ya never know...") is the query: "Have Pearl Jam left their record company yet?" The answer is simply "yes."

Pearl Jam has been in the Epic fold since the release of their ground-breaking, career-launching, mega-selling Ten in 1991, but the members have expressed disappointment over the company's current management. Since Tommy Mottola departure as Sony Music boss in January, other high-profile artists have defected, most notably Ozzy and daughter Kelly Osbourne.

Before the start of the band's first North American tour in three years, which kicked off in Denver in April, bassist Jeff Ament revealed that the band was looking forward to freeing itself from Epic and Sony.

"Our record company's in shambles right now, so we're, we're gonna wait for the label to get their **** together before we put anything else out," Ament told Launch.com. "It might be the sort of thing where, 10 or 12 years, it's kind of run its course a little bit. I mean, the good thing is that we have nothing but time right now, so we can enjoy our free agency."

Pearl Jam is putting out feelers with several other record companies, among them Clive Davis' J Records. However, Ament said he and his fellow rockers plan to go slow in an effort to yield the best deal.

"We want to be somewhere where people are really excited about us being at their label, and we have tons of ideas about how we want to do things, but we also want to hear somebody who has equally as many ideas about how we can do things," Ament said.

While no longer as massively popular as they used to be, at least in terms of record sales, Eddie Vedder & Co., have a large, loyal following. The band has proved incredibly durable, rocking on as most of its grunge contemporaries floundered and even outlasting the recent teen-popster infatuation.

Pearl Jam's most recent disc, Riot Act, debuted at number five on the album charts last November, selling 166,000 copies. The spring leg of the boys' current U.S. trek sold out arenas across the country.

Their upcoming summer jaunt gets underway in Missoula, Montana on May 28. They just extended the tour, too, adding two more dates in Mexico City.

Sony did not return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday, but a spokesperson told Billboard that it's enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the band and will continue to do so, especially since it controls the Pearl Jam catalog.

"We have nothing but admiration for the members of Pearl Jam, and we are extremely proud of all that we've accomplished together over the many years. We look forward to a continuing relationship," said the rep.

 

I can't say I'm really shocked about this. I never suspected that Pearl Jam was going to stick with Epic once their contract was fulfilled.

 

Me, neither.

What I'd really like to see Pearl Jam do now is to start their own label, so they can own their future catalog. I have a bad feeling that now that they don't have Pearl Jam, Sony is going to start milking the Pearl Jam cashcow.

The Essential Pearl Jam, anyone?

 

Maybe an expanded "Ten" with live versions of Jeremy and Black!

Yeah I can totally see a "Best of Pearl Jam" disc coming out right in time for Christmas.

 

I think Pearl Jam has some say on what goes on with their Sony catalog so I don't think we'll see say "Pearl Jam- Super Hits."

We'll probably see a best of and maybe that B-sides disc they've been meaning to put out for a while.

 

Does Sony own the Pearl Jam masters? Many bands have different deals (depending on how sharp the lawyers were) regarding publishing and ownership of masters. If Sony payed for the studio time (does anyone know if they did?) chances are, they own the tapes.

 

The article indicates that Sony owns and controls the back catalog. I just checked my Pearl Jam CDs and records, and the copyrights all say "Sony Music Entertainment" - from Ten all the way to Riot Act.

 

Yeah, Sony will milk the catalog, and why not? They must have taken a bath on those dozens of live discs they issued a few years ago; I still see a lot of those scattered about everywhere, and I'm surprised they're not in the cutout bins, sales were so poor.

THE ESSENTIAL PEARL JAM? Well, why not?

ED

 

Just as a correction to the poor sales for the Official Bootleg series. They did in fact sell a lot and both the label and the bands manager stated that it was like "printing money" since they made a huge profit on them. The cost were next to nothing since they used their in-house sound man to mix the shows each night and send them to a plant in Atlanta for pressing. They are also not copy-written and you can trade them freely.

Pearl Jam originally wanted to just sell them online through their fan club, but Sony insisted on distributing them for retail so they could get a cut.

Now that the record deal is over, Pearl Jam sells the official bootlegs (and now a live DVD) on their fan-club site only, and sales are incredible from what I understand. They are back-ordered on some of the shows which is pretty good for a band with little to no radio airplay and no advertisements anywhere for the live discs.

 

I also want to chime in agreeing that I also heard that the bootleg series was considered wildly successful on all fronts. Not only due to the low costs for mixing/mastering, but also for the bare-bones packaging and lack of any promotion - these things basically sold themselves in brown wrappers. Also, if the series were not successful, I don't think the original US leg of the tour would have been covered - I am sure they would have cut the series off after the European leg.

I was hoping that more artists would follow suit, although to-date, it seems like it has been pretty limited to the jam bands like Phish and Dave Matthews. While I would love to see to Springsteen produce such a series, but knowing it is against his artistic/controlling nature, I am still hoping that a more major, comparably mainstream artist like an REM or U2 would take the plunge.

 

Really, why not remain a "free agent"? I think the lesson of the music industry is when you're starting out you almost have to sign away all your rights. But when you're one of the biggest acts around, and have the cash, and you're no longer on contract, it's time to write your own ticket, and control all your future rights. And I think these guys can do it, in-house, or out.

 

I'd be up for a 2 disc ESSENTIALS. Maybe Sony could put a couple of jems on there such as the single mix of "Even Flow" and the cover of The Beatles "I've Got A Feeling" that only appeared on the Japanese version of "Ten". It took me over a year to track that down. The Web was in its infancy in those days. A friend of mine back home found the CD for me.

 

What I'd like to see instead of a best-of, Miike, is a "Past Masters" type of album that they've been talking about doing for at least two years now. This would consist of b-sides ("Yellow Ledbetter," "Footsteps;" etc.) and other non-album rarities ("I Got ****," "Last Kiss," "Dirty Frank," "Crazy Mary," "I've Got A Feeling," Christmas singles; etc.). This would be a great end to their Sony career, maybe even a companion piece to a potential best-of.

 

I applaud Pearl Jam for recording and releasing these concert albums for their fans. They're cutting out the bootleggers! More bands should start doing this. It's the ultimate concert memento. Bands make lots of money selling T-shirts and programs at the venue, why not an album of the performance?

Last year I saw Tool (twice) Paul McCartney, and Rush. I would have bought a live album of each of those shows. If I want a cd from each show, I'd have to pay way too much money for a crappy sounding bootleg.

I'm hoping we'll see other artists do this.

 

It's absolutely wonderful that they do this, although I'm kind of ticked they're not releasing any of their December, 2002 Seattle shows. I was at the December 8 show at Key Arena and it was phenomenal.

 

It's perfect for Pearl Jam to do this since their set lists are so varied night to night. I don't think it would make as much sense for somelike McCartney to do it because his sets are pretty much the same. He does put out a live album from each tour though which is cool.

Back to PJ, I have the 2 Seattle shows from the last tour and they are fantastic. The last show (I think it was the last night of the tour) is 3 CD's. The 1st one is worth the price just to hear them do MLB's "Crown Of Thorns". I'd like to hear them do "Stargazer" too, but any MLB song is much appreciated.
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Now Playing-VU/Velvet Underground & Nico

 

Yeah, I have the Seatle show from November 6, 2000 (the day before election day). Great show.

 

I'm still looking for a copy of that Japanese disc (I have the Beatles cover on a bootleg, but ya know...) which is much harder to find than the European version with other bonus tracks. Frankly, I'm a bit surprised the song has not ended up on any other release, but it would certainly be a nice inclusion on any official b-sides/rarities compilation.

 

I've heard this as well, although one of the shows is now available on DVD via the fanclub... was there any reason given why these shows were not included in the PJ live bootleg series?

 

I had a pile of those on my desk back in my college Music Director radio daze. No one wanted them but another guy who thought Pearl Jam was a neat band.

In 1991, there were at least 10 albums from Seattle (and some elsewhere) that went 4X platnum in my 1st year of college. By the time people were beating my door down looking for promo copies, the labels weren't giving them out.

"Dirty Frank", "I Got A Feeling" and "Wash" I concidered "Ten" B-sides that should have just been on the album....period.

 

Hell, there are a lot of Pearl Jam rarities that are band essentials that aren't readily available on albums. That's why they need to make a rarities compilation (there's easily have enough material out there to make a double album; maybe even a box set).

 

Without live material, they could make a 2CD set of B's.

Before I left radio, the one thing the station desperately asked me for, is the Pearl Jam promo singles on CDR with a few of the Xmas singles.

But FWIKT, Pearl Jam doesn't have any contractual obligations left? ...Mmmm...

 

I have a promo CD single that includes "I Got a Feeling" as a bonus track.

 

Really? Can you post more details when you get the chance?

That might be an easier way for me to track down an original copy of this track...

 

I finally dug out the promo single. It's titled "Alive," after the lead track. 3 songs: "Alive," "Wash," and "I've Got a Feeling." Released 1991. Epic catalog #ZSK 4041. Standard jewel box, with custom front insert and back inlay card.

I wish I knew how to scan these things and show 'em here.