I'd venture a guess that history will remember it as a success. Not only will they recoup some of that money with the actual release of the album, but keep in mind how much of a new fan base they developed.
Big band or not, there are certainly a ton of people that've never heard their music, and this gave people a painless way to try them out. I anticipate some really excellent tour figures, which is usually a band's bread-and-butter anyhow.
