In the development of her new record, “Theatre Is Evil”,
Amanda Palmer opened up a KickStarter project to fund it and donations came in
to $1.2million. On her upcoming tour, Amanda has invited fans to play with her
and her band, the Grand Theft Orchestra, each night.
Producer Steve Albini said on an online forum about Amanda
that if “"you are forced by
your ignorance into pleading for donations and charity work, you are then
publicly admitting you are an idiot.”
This just shows a
complete lack of understanding of what the internet is doing to music, how
things are changing. Amanda Palmer hasn’t “demanded” anything from her fans.
Asking fans who
play instruments to play with her on tour is not cheap, it’s offering someone
an opportunity, and from what I’ve seen on Twitter there are no horn-players
that feel exploited or cheated out by this, the people that actually have a
right to. It’s open minded, innovative and brave. These are musicians who are
probably unprofessional, being offered an opportunity to play on stage with one
of their favourite bands. The people
volunteering will do so because they love what they do, not because there’s
money in it. And if they have a problem with being unpaid, they won’t
volunteer. Absolutely no-one is being hurt in this process and it fails me to
understand why someone could have a problem with it.
Albini commented
on the fact that after the KickStarter donations project, she must have enough
money lying around, and that the Grand Theft Orchestra, Amanda’s band, will be
paid salaries. Here is the thing though: I am not suggesting for a minute that
the musicians that are fans playing on stage with her are not hardworking and
dedicated and deserve reward, but playing for one odd night on the tour in
their hometown is completely different to a band of professional musicians
giving up months of their lives to tour the world and do nothing else.
In her song “Map
of Tasmania”, Amanda sings that “We are the Media” and I feel like this just completely
sums up this situation. With the manifestation of the internet, musicians and
fans aren’t closed off from each other anymore and art is open to everyone.
Teenage boys can record a single in their bedrooms and post it online. Rockstars
can chat to fans about their lunch. There are people out there that love music,
and understand art is not about money.
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