Pearl Jam has inked a deal with Target to distribute its next CD, reportedly called "Backspacer."

Billboard reports that the Seattle band, whose contract with longtime home Epic Records, has been up for awhile now, will turn to the mass merchant as its retail partner for the new album, but, unlike many other such deals, Target will not be the only place fans can purchase the CD.

  "Target ended up allowing us to have other partners," the band's longtime manager Kelly Curtis tells Billboard. "We'll be able to take care of all levels of the Pearl Jam fan...We wish we could tell the whole story right now, but all the deals aren't done. Target was cool enough to realize that little independent record stores are not their competition." He hints that there will also be tie ins with an online retailer, mobile company, a game manufacturer and others.

As first reported on antiquiet.com, Pearl Jam has filmed a commercial for Target with director and longtime supporter/friend of the band, Cameron Crowe.  But for folks  (like me) that are a little taken aback by the Target connection, Curtis has a few words: "Everyone's making assumptions because Target is a big corporation," Curtis told Billboard. "Its important to remember we just got out of this 18 year relationship with Sony, and I'm pretty sure they are a bigger corporation than Target. We have the freedom to pick our partners and more control when we've ever had before. We're excited to choose who we're in business with."

The album is slated to come out this fall and will likely be preceded by first single, "The Fixer."