Lizard_King wrote:

MSNBC wrote:

What do bands get from labels? They get a big chunk of change up front when they sign a typical high profile seven-album deal like Pearl Jam did 10 years ago. Everyone likes a large lump sum of money: Debts can be repaid, substantial down payments can be made on cars and houses, drugs can be purchased in bulk at a substantial savings — wait — scratch that.
       But in exchange for that lump sum, the label owns your soul. That lump sum isn’t a payment, it’s a loan against which recording, promotion, and publicity costs — virtually all costs — are charged. A band doesn’t start receiving royalties, real “earned” money, until it pays back that loan with sales, or “recoups.”
Pearl Jam tour satisfies pent-up demand
       Very few artists ever recoup and earn royalties — as Pearl Jam has undoubtedly done — and even when they do recoup, artists don’t receive ownership of their own master recordings. As attorney Freundlich puts it, “The old adage is, it’s like paying off your mortgage but never owning your house.”

Hopefully this will work out more successfully than their anti-Ticketmaster crusade, or for that matter their Nader-cheering.