Pearl Jam 'Gets' Mobility, The Internet. Metallica Doesn't

Pearl Jam is good to its fans. Not only does it encourage bootlegs, it has teamed up with Verizon Wireless to offer free bootlegs from its upcoming tour via Verizon's V Cast music service. Bands like Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails definitely have the power of mobile phones and the Internet figured out. Meanwhile, Metallica recently forced bloggers to take down (positive) reviews of its forthcoming album.Even if you don't like its music, you have to respect the work ethos of Pearl Jam and how the band takes care of its fans. It may be beyond its mid-'90s heyday, but Pearl Jam fans still turn up in droves wherever the bands shows up to play a show. What's more, Pearl Jam has recorded dozens of its live shows, and makes them readily available to fans. Today, Pearl Jam takes its live recordings up a notch with a new partnership with Verizon Wireless.

According to a press release, beginning with the first show of the Pearl Jam 2008 tour in West Palm Beach, Fla., on June 11, Verizon Wireless customers will have exclusive mobile access to the band's first-ever mobile bootleg recordings. Here's how it will work:

Granted, this is a marketing opportunity for both Verizon and Pearl Jam, and its goal is obviously to increase downloads of music via mobile phones. But by sharing live bootlegs, Pearl Jam is using the power of mobility to connect with its fans in a new way. You have to give it kudos for that. (Can you image if The Grateful Dead did this?)

Nine Inch Nails is another band that has proven -- twice -- that the Internet can be used as a good distribution model for its music. Radiohead was somewhat less successful with its experimental release of its "In Rainbows" CD last October.

Metallica, on the other hand, is a whole different story. Drummer Lars Ullrich alienated many a fan when he stood in front of Congress and asked it to destroy Napster nearly 10 years ago. Despite the recent addition of Metallica's library to places such as the iTunes Music Store, Metallica is still fumbling about the Internet.

Recently, the band invited a bunch of journalists to listen to prerelease versions of some songs from its upcoming new CD. The band has been working on this CD for years with producer Rick Rubin. After hearing the music, said journalists went home and did exactly what anyone would have expected: They wrote reviews of what they heard and posted the reviews online. Once Metallica's management heard about the reviews, it contacted the offending Web sites' management companies and ordered the reviews to be removed. In the end, they were all removed. What's funny is that the reviews were mostly positive. Go figure.

It is bands such as Pearl Jam -- and others that have teamed up with mobile providers -- that give me hope the recording industry will eventually figure out the best way to get new music into the hands (literally) of fans.