Pearl Jam's Camp Issues Cease-And-Desist Orders

The RIAA and Epic Records are working together to curtail the unauthorized Internet distribution of the upcoming Pearl Jam album, Yield.

A dozen or more Web sites have made available high-quality audio files comprising the entire album; the files emerged soon after the record was leaked in full by a Dec. 3 broadcast by WKRL in Syracuse, N.Y.

According to RIAA president/CEO Hilary Rosen, cease-and-desist letters have been sent to the offending Web sites located so far, declaring that such unsanctioned downloading of unreleased music "violates both the moral and economic rights of the artists and record companies." Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis says, "The band takes such pride in the packaging and presentation of its music that for an album to come out in a way that isn't as they intended just isn't fair. And it's not fair to the fans who don't happen to have computers."

The U.S. street date for "Yield" is Feb. 3; it is due Jan. 28 in Japan and Feb. 2 in several European territories. The first single, "Given To Fly," goes to U.S. radio Dec. 24, although the song has been leaked on several stations in the past week.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

More Song Stories entries »

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