NEW YORK Pearl Jam was indeed recording a Target commercial under the direction of Cameron Crowe last week at Seattle's Showbox theater, Billboard can confirm. But there's more to the story than an exclusive retail relationship.
While it has been known that Pearl Jam are no longer under contract after 18 years of recording for Sony-affiliated labels, there has been only speculation about who would release their next album and how. Kelly Curtis, who has managed Pearl Jam since day one, conducted a wide-ranging interview with Billboard on Sunday, confirming the band's next release -- scheduled for early fall -- would appear without a U.S. label, but a consortium of partners, including Target, as the "big box" retail partner.
"We'll have a lot of partners," said Curtis, who confirmed that deals were also finished or in the works with an online retailer, a mobile partner, a gaming company and a network or possibly networks of indie retail stores. "Target ended up allowing us to have other partners. We'll be able to take care of all levels of the Pearl Jam fan...We wish we could tell the whole story right now, but all the deals aren't done. Target was cool enough to realize that little independent record stores are not their competition." Curtis was also quick to note that the album would be for sale via Pearl Jam's fan club, Ten Club.
News of the Target commercial taping first broke last week on antiquiet.com, which is also hosting a bootleg recording from the Target taping of a song that Curtis confirmed was called "The Fixer." While a first single hasn't been definitively chosen from the new album yet, the song is in the running. An official first single will likely be released in July.
Curtis said the Target commercial was only one reason for the Showbox session; with singer Eddie Vedder on tour supporting his solo work for the next month, "We had a narrow window to get some footage," said Curtis. "We shot three or four songs that night." Curtis said some of the footage may be used for a project that Cameron Crowe is working on in connection to the band's 20th anniversary.
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