Last week, Pearl Jam annouced that it would begin offering official concert downloads only hours after each gig on their website for about $10. Concievably, a fan could go see a show on Tuesday night and be working out to the audio Wednesday afternoon on their iPod. As a Pearl Jam fan I am excited about this new chance to hear this great live band, well, live.
As you may recall, rumors began swirling at the begining of the year that U2 was going to do this in conjuction with Apple and iTunes. The first leg of the Vertigo tour came and went. No concerts on iTunes. The 2nd leg has come to a close without a downloadable concert as well. In 2 weeks, the boys return to North America for the 3rd leg of the tour. Will they offer downloadable content hours after each show? I’m not getting my hopes up.
U2isAble over at @U2 has written a great post about this. They believe that a U2 fan would be willing to pay upwards of $20 to be able to download concerts. This fan would. I completely agree that a copy of the show is better than “an overpriced T-shirt any day of the week.” At the “Elevation Tour” I paid $30 dollars for a shirt and would have gladly taken a board recording of that concert instead.
Go and read the article. It is well worth your time if you are a U2 fan.
Again, hats off the Pearl Jam. It’s a shame they couldn’t stop the monster that is Ticketmaster but at least they still have their fans at heart
I recently went to see Vertical Horizon a couple weeks ago. They’re doing something similar, where you can pay $20 before the concert, and after the concert is over, as you’re walking out you could get a 2-disc recording of that evening’s show. Brilliant idea!!! Had I the money, it would have been a no-brainer, but unfortunately the show came at the same time of the month as the rest of my bills…I’m still regretting not shelling out the money anyway.