Pearl Jam Go It Alone

After 18 years with Sony Music, Pearl Jam are going the ‘indie’ route.

Their manager Kelly Curtis told Billboard their upcoming album Backspacer would come backed with a consortium of partners including Target, an online retailer, a mobile partner, a gaming company and a network of indie retail stores.

That’s not quite the definition of ‘indie’ I’m familiar with, conjuring up images of hand-made CDs and touring in an old pickup truck… But I applaud the move. I cannot understand any band with the kind of fan-base Pearl Jam have remaining with a label.