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

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

More Song Stories entries »

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