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Eddie Vedder's Into the Wild soundtrack may be more accessible than the film itself. Sean Penn's drama about Chris McCandless's fateful solo expedition into Alaska is only playing in limited release, but you can download all the music from any internet-connected computer, or in a music store, if any of those still exist. The Pearl Jam frontman spoke about his artistic collaboration on the album and the state of the music industry today. 

CraveOnline: How did you hook up with Sean Penn?

Eddie Vedder: Sean had some resources. People call him back immediately because of the amount of respect he's gained and earned over the years. I was just another one of  those calls and immediately I responded, and said goodbye to what I thought was going to be a vacation after doing a long stretch with the band. Our friendship is incredibly important to me. We've had some really memorable times, whether it's running rapids or having coffee. It's amazing how those things with Sean can be really similar. To work with him is to work with somebody. With Sean, that's where you get into the good stuff beyond "Hey, how ya doin'. How's the family?" That's all great but to work with somebody and really get into it, I really enjoy that. That seems to further the friendship. It just gets deeper. The work is really where it gets exciting. As this has formed and it now seems to be done, it was a real gift. I'm really glad that he heard my voice in all that because it's been a real gift.

CraveOnline: How is your songwriting process for a movie different than for your own album?

Eddie Vedder: It was kind of all different ways, and one nice thing it just kind of, I don't know how, but it just kind of grew organically. I may have been intimidated if Sean were to have said, "We need this, and we need a theme, and it would be nice if it were structured this way or that way, and then it revisits this at the end." None of that happened, or not consciously, and he started finding places to put the songs. I've been learning from listening to the actors and Sean talk. As closely as Sean was paying attention to detail to tell an exacting story being so responsible to Chris, he also gave Emile [Hirsch] the freedom to be that person and how would that person be? What I'm saying is, with the music basically he allowed me to write my own lines, a couple of cover songs so that was nice too, he gave me a few lines that I could interpret. He gave me a lot of freedom, and I think the biggest thing was trust, which was just kind of unspoken. The story is so inspiring, just so inspiring, and the images were inspiring, and it was so easy to focus that it really became kind of an out of body experience. It went real quick and instruments were being handed to me and we were just doing all the takes real quick, and then we'd send it to Sean and he'd find places for it, and ask for a couple of more, and it just kind of grew that way. I don't know if I'd want to do this again, because I know it wouldn't be as good as this experience was, so I could just leave it at this. This was great.

CraveOnline: What's an example of some of the direction Sean Penn would give you on your music? 

Eddie Vedder: One of the directions that Sean gave me on [the scene where] he's leaving the bus before he gets to the river and the river is overflowing. Just a short little note he sent up, and he said, "On this scene, don't be afraid to be too literal with the lyrics. He knows he's leaving, he knows he's leaving the bus, and he's not going back to his parents, and he's not going back to f*ck the 16 year old girl (I don't know why)."

CraveOnline: Are you planning a solo tour for this music?

Eddie Vedder: There might be a few requests for these songs that might come in. No plans. Like I said, making art with Sean was I feel like a gift, but I might just take some time off. It's like if you afford yourself to buy a nice chair, what's the point if you never get to sit in it? So I might just take some time with my kid.

CraveOnline: I remember when Ticketmaster was your big issue. What are the issues with the music industry today, now that iTunes is the main forum for distribution and such?

Eddie Vedder: Ticketmaster is now gone so there's something about longevity. It's nice to outlast something that's as big and giant and powerful as that. The answer is a three or four hour discussion at the end of which there are as many questions as there are answers. It's a bit strange for me that people are weighing in on this record [before] they've heard it and yet it's not for sale. They got it from being downloaded and that whole deal. As an artist, the problem with not selling records, if that's what we're talking about. Considering that people aren't buying your records because they don't like 'em, I agree with that too, if that would be the case. But I think there are a lot of people getting their music without having to pay you. And it's only $12. I ordered eggs at a little Seattle restaurant and it was $9.50. I'm thinking you can't spend two extra bucks for a record that you put your heart and soul into. I think the problem is that you're going to have to charge more for tickets, which is something we've always been abhorrent to do. Either that, or you're going to have to start accepting sponsorships. That's going to be the normal thing or start selling your music to Viagra commercials, supporting artificial erections. As an artist, that puts you in an interesting position and I'm not sure what or how we'll do it. I'm glad we gave money away when we did when it came from making records. We kind of spread it around and helped people in our community and abroad in different ways. I'm glad we did it when we could. It's different now.