According to the memo, when the band circumvented Ticketmaster by selling tickets through a newspaper lottery for a March 19 show in Detroit's Masonic Temple (at $18 each with a $1.75 fee going to the promoter, Nederlander, and $1.50 fee to the venue), Pearl Jam was "informed" that Ticketmaster "threatened the promoter with a lawsuit for breaching its exclusive agreement," and even temporarily shut off its ticket machine at the venue. But Nederlander refused to back down, sources say. Ticketmaster agreed to accept a portion of the promoter's $1.75 service fee.

Ticketmaster's Solters denies the firm tried to organize a boycott of the tour. But in two letters obtained by the Los Angeles Times and submitted with Pearl Jam's complaint, Ben Liss, the executive director of the association, advised promoters that if they booked Pearl Jam under the band's conditions, [Fredric D. Rosen] warned they could face possible lawsuits. (Liss, who was president of Ticketron when that company was acquired by Ticketmaster in 1991, says his attorney advised him not to comment for this story.)

As rumors of a boycott spread through the concert industry, Pearl Jam pressed on with its spring tour and performed more than a dozen scheduled dates without incident. In mid-April, Pearl Jam's memo says, its management was warned through third parties that the musicians should "watch their backs" - statements, the band claims, that were intended to "threaten and intimidate." In addition, the memo says Ticketmaster suggested it might sue Pearl Jam for "tortuously interfering" with Ticketmaster's exclusive dealing arrangements with promoters - allegations that the firm vehemently denies.