Target Teams With iTunes For Pearl Jam's "Backspacer" Digital Release

In June, news broke that Target stores had secured the exclusive big-box retail rights for Pearl Jam's upcoming album Backspacer. But while Walmart has its own digital music store and Best Buy owns Napster, Target doesn't have a notable digital music presence. To level the playing field, Target and iTunes announced yesterday that the two vendors will team up for a new Target-exclusive section on the iTunes Music Store, Billboard.biz reports. Fittingly, the first album that will be offered up in this new pact will be Pearl Jam's Backspacer, due out September 20th.

By pre-ordering Backspacer now, fans will immediately be able to download first single "The Fixer" and its brand new music video for free. The 10-minute Making Of Backspacer promo video will also be available as a free download with pre-orders until September 8th. While Target secured the big-box retailer exclusive on Pearl Jam's latestâ€"some Targets even have "The Fixer" 7'' single in stock now, perhaps marking the first time vinyl has ever been in stock there — Backspacer will also be available through independent record stores and Pearl Jam's own Ten Club store.

Related Stories:
• Cameron Crowe's Video for Pearl Jam's "The Fixer" Premieres
• Pearl Jam Tell Story Behind "Backspacer" in Making-Of Video
• Pearl Jam Break Out New Songs, Rarities, Ronnie Wood in London

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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