Amanda F***ing Palmer is the queen of crowd-sourcing. She raised an impressive $1.2 million over Kic

Music News , Video , Amanda Palmer , Independent travel trailers for sale tucson Music , Music Industry , Steve Albini travel trailers for sale tucson , Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra , Amanda Palmer Kickstarter , Amanda Palmer Musicians , Amanda Palmer Theatre Is Evil , Amanda Palmer Unpaid Musicians , Kickstarter , Record Labels ,
Amanda F***ing Palmer is the queen of crowd-sourcing. She raised an impressive $1.2 million over Kickstarter this year to pay for her newest album, "Theatre is Evil," recorded with her band Grand Theft Orchestra. And now, as many of you know, the cabaret darling is jumping back on the social media wagon to recruit musicians for the record's tour.
Palmer posted the request on her website last month , expressing to fans that she's looking for "professional-ish" horn and string players to join the Grand Theft Orchestra on stage during each night of her tour. But there's a catch. The vocalist and her thinly painted brows are not planning on paying the lovely volunteers -- at least not in cash money. No, Palmer is promising a combination travel trailers for sale tucson of beer, hugs, high-fives, and merch, but not a bit of that $1.2 million from her coffers.
Unsurprisingly, the post has sparked a horde of responses, and very few have praised Palmer for her frugal sensibility and ballsy online attitude. The New York Times ran a blog post that summarized the negative feedback, referencing tweets like the one below that criticize Palmer for her free-labor attitude.
The angry sentiments of the Twittersphere were echoed travel trailers for sale tucson by Raymond M. Hair Jr., president of the American Federation of Musicians , who told The Times : "If there's a need for the musician to be on the stage, then there ought to be compensation for it. Playing is work and there's a value associated with it, and that value ought to be respected."
Perhaps the most seething response came from the Internet's resident curmudgeon , Steve Albini. The famous recording engineer and alternative-rock musician apparently took offense to all of Palmer's crowd-sourcing efforts, posting the following words on his Electrical Audio board :
"I have no fundamental problem with either asking your fans to pay you to make your record or go on tour or play for free in your band or gather at a mud pit downstate and sell meth and blowjobs to each other...The reason I don't appeal to other people in this manner is that all those things can easily pay for themselves, and I value self-sufficiency and independence, even (or especially) from an audience."
"If your position is that you aren't able to figure out how to do that, that you are forced by your ignorance into pleading for donations and charity work, you are then publicly admitting you are an idiot."
"Idiot" might be going a little too far, Albini. Sure, Palmer might be taking advantage of the loyalty her fans have so far demonstrated by soliciting free labor that she could otherwise afford. But it's not as if she's forcing them into servitude, whipping their musically talented bodies through a two-three hour set with only a "hug/high-five" to look forward travel trailers for sale tucson to. She's offering them an opportunity to play with a highly-publicized artist travel trailers for sale tucson and become part of a tour that people have been talking about since Palmer launched her project earlier travel trailers for sale tucson this year.
It's also technically a one-time offer. Palmer is asking musicians in the particular cities she will be playing to volunteer one night if they so choose. What she's not asking them to do is hop on the tour bus and play months of gigs for free. Members of indie bands everywhere would attest to the fact that making a cameo appearance at a friend's (or famous musician's) performance isn't really that odd. Just as the thought of being reimbursed in alcohol isn't such a foreign concept either.
And let's be honest. Most professional musicians -- at least those accustomed to being paid for a day's work -- will probably not volunteer their time. Palmer travel trailers for sale tucson will most likely be greeted travel trailers for sale tucson by die-hard fans willing to fake trombone skills in order to meet their Dresden Doll goddess or wide-eyed sixteen year olds who have never seen a stage that wasn't located in the forgotten travel trailers for sale tucson wing of their high school.
It's ultimately Palmer's decision to make, though. It's her band and it's her money, and if she wants to risk the quality of music performed at her shows in pursuit of another wild crowd-sourcing endeavor, so be it. The question of whether Palmer's act will take away from the ability of professional artists to make a living is valid; however, it seems pretty unlikely that this would be the case. Most independent bands don't possess the capital to include brass or strings in the first place. Also, let's face it, Palmer's Kickstarter stint didn't inspire bands everywhere to abandon their lucrative labels and head to the greener grasses of self-promotion.
We understand the outcry. She's a millionaire (sort of) and she's not paying her invited guests. But we're just not sure she, as an independent artist, deserves such vitriol from the Internet community.
LAS VEGAS - JUNE 09: Singer/pianist Amanda Palmer and drummer Brian Viglione from the band The Dresden Dolls attend the official True Colors Tour after party at Studio 54 inside the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino travel trailers for sale tucson June 9, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Proceeds from the tour will benefit travel trailers for sale tucson equal rights organizations. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
US singer Amanda Palmer poses on February 5, 2009 in London. Palmer is on tour for her album, 'Who killed Amanda Palmer' which has created a scandal in Britain where radio stations and music channels have refused to play one of her songs, 'Oasis', a song about abortion. AFP PHOTO / GABRIELLE MOTOLA WITH AFP STORY IN FRENCH BY MATHILDE DAMGE La chanteuse Amanda Palmer fait scandale avec une chanson sur l'avortement (Photo credit should read Gabrielle Motola/AFP/Getty Images)
US singer Amanda Palmer poses on February 5, 2009 in London. Palmer is on tour for her album, 'Who killed Amanda Palmer' which has created a scandal in Britain where radio stations and music channels have refused to play one of her songs, 'Oasis', a song about abortion. AFP PHOTO / GABRIELLE MOTOLA WITH AFP STORY IN FRENCH BY MATHILDE travel trailers for sale tucson DAMGE La chanteuse Amanda Palmer fait scandale avec une chanson sur l'avortement (Photo credit should read Gabrielle Motola/AFP/Getty Images) US singer travel trailers for sale tucson Amanda Palmer poses on Februar
US singer Amanda Palmer poses on February 5, 2009 in London. Palmer is on tour for her album, 'Who killed Amanda Palmer' travel trailers for sale tucson which has created a scandal in Britain where radio stations and music channels have refused to play one of her songs, 'Oasis', a song about abortion. AFP PHOTO / GABRIELLE MOTOLA WITH AFP STORY IN FRENCH BY MATHILDE DAMGE La chanteuse Amanda Palmer travel trailers for sale tucson fait scandale avec une chanson sur l'avortement (Photo credit should read Gabrielle Motola/AFP/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 03: Singer Amanda Palmer performs with Jherek Bischoff during the 2012 Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on May 3, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 03: Singer Amanda Palmer performs with Jherek Bischoff during the 2012 Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on May 3, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS - JUNE 08: Singer/pianist Amanda Palmer from the band The Dresden Dolls performs during the kickoff of the first annual True Colors Tour at the MGM Grand Garden Arena June 8, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Proceeds from the show will benefit equal rights organizations. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Amanda F***ing Palmer travel trailers for sale tucson is the queen of crowd-sourcing. She raised an impressive $1.2 million over Kickstarter this year to pay for her newest album, Theatre is Evil, recorded with her band Grand Thef...
Amanda F***ing Palmer is the queen of crowd-sourcing. She raised an impressive $1.2 million over Kickstarter this year to pay for her newest album, Theatre is Evil, recorded with her band Grand Thef...
HuffPost High School welcomes a lively, thoughtful debate in the comment section. Keep in mind that the articles here are penned by young authors, travel trailers for sale tucson so please keep criticism respectful, and help us to keep this a safe and supportive place for writers of all ages to contribute.
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travel trailers for sale tucson I love that people are posting comments critical of this practice, thereby applying their talent and effort to create content for another party, which is making money off of it, for free. By the same standard being applied to musicians, everyone here is devaluing the work of writers travel trailers for sale tucson simply by participating in this conversation.
Also, having actually seen the show, I can say that the guest musicians are only on for a couple of songs and that Palmer plugged them enthusiastically and provided space for those who had them to sell CDs and merch. So it's really not that different from a lot of local opening travel trailers for sale tucson acts. To be honest, the idea that it might be a paying gig seems a little absurd to me, recalling it.
also, I don't think that people realize that Amanda went very public with where all of the 1.2 million crowd sourced funds went. The breakdown was down to the penny. The more money she made, the more she put into the album and swag that went along with it. I pre-ordered a cd for 25 dollars and I got a beautiful art book, a cd, a digital download of the album plus bonus features, a personalized thank you card, a phone book page signed with the name of a backer, and a fold out stereoscope with a picture of the band. i don't know of any other artist that puts as much attention to detail into their albums, as well as creates a new experience with each album, including the lead up, the blogs, the photos, the videos, and the artistic components. Each album has a story, and she build