On Amanda Palmer and her not paying the musicians thing
Well, I'm trying to keep updating this thing more regularly. I might actually make a personal post at some point.
First the background:
http://pitchfork.com/news/47852-steve-albini-amanda-palmer-the-fight-continues/
I had started posting about the flak that Amanda Palmer had received after asking for backup musicians to play for her tour without monetary compensation on facebook. Palmer is going on tour and as a cost management decision wanted to limit the number of musicians she traveled with by pulling members of the backup band at each stop on the tour. I'm not a performing artist so I'm not sure if this is a good idea to begin with or not. The issue is that Palmer was asking for the musicians to play for her without monetary compensation after running a kickstarter campaign which raised over $1M.
The entire situation is explained in the article with links to relevant material so I won't go into it.
What's not an issue here is that Palmer had a wildly successful crowd funded project. That's fantastic and there's no question that she worked up an active and engaged fanbase which made it all possible. She made a choice to go out on her own as an entirely independent musician and produce her material without the backing of a label.
Nor is it about asking people to volunteer their time. I give my time and talent as a photographer for the theater community all the time and I'm glad to do it.
Which leads us into the issue... I donate my photography services to art events that don't make any money or are explicitly non-profits (mostly the latter, let's face it, anyone who thinks they're going to make a profit with dance or theater except on Broadway is insane).
Palmer is not running a non-profit. She made a considerable bundle of money through pre-orders and what people are objecting to do is her not paying the help when they feel there is plenty of money available for her to do so.
What's bothering me about this situation is that people aren't talking about the power dynamic in a successful indie musician who has worked her way up from literally working on the street to having a strong career asking unknown musicians to play for free. The opportunity to play for her is going to carry its own currency. Either due to fan devotion or a resume builder there are motivations for a musician to take up her offer. There's no reason they can't have both the opportunity and the income. Dangling the carrot of exposure in front of someone whose professional growth does depend on that exposure isn't fair if there's the stick of no pay.
She's running a business and has been very vocal about doing so as she writes below.
http://www.amandapalmer.net/blog/why-i-am-not-afraid-to-take-your-money-by-amanda/
I fully support her trying to find new ways for musicians to earn a living. But she needs to run a business and be up front about it. Calling your fans comrades and putting up a front of collaborative DIY love sounds like marketing if you're also writing about the need to be a capitalist. Either your run a business or you run a non-profit in the arts. If you're going to run a business you need pay for your labor. She's not the only one who's earned the right to make a living. Its the inconsistency in her messaging that's bothering me.
First the background:
http://pitchfork.com/news/47852-steve-albini-amanda-palmer-the-fight-continues/
I had started posting about the flak that Amanda Palmer had received after asking for backup musicians to play for her tour without monetary compensation on facebook. Palmer is going on tour and as a cost management decision wanted to limit the number of musicians she traveled with by pulling members of the backup band at each stop on the tour. I'm not a performing artist so I'm not sure if this is a good idea to begin with or not. The issue is that Palmer was asking for the musicians to play for her without monetary compensation after running a kickstarter campaign which raised over $1M.
The entire situation is explained in the article with links to relevant material so I won't go into it.
What's not an issue here is that Palmer had a wildly successful crowd funded project. That's fantastic and there's no question that she worked up an active and engaged fanbase which made it all possible. She made a choice to go out on her own as an entirely independent musician and produce her material without the backing of a label.
Nor is it about asking people to volunteer their time. I give my time and talent as a photographer for the theater community all the time and I'm glad to do it.
Which leads us into the issue... I donate my photography services to art events that don't make any money or are explicitly non-profits (mostly the latter, let's face it, anyone who thinks they're going to make a profit with dance or theater except on Broadway is insane).
Palmer is not running a non-profit. She made a considerable bundle of money through pre-orders and what people are objecting to do is her not paying the help when they feel there is plenty of money available for her to do so.
What's bothering me about this situation is that people aren't talking about the power dynamic in a successful indie musician who has worked her way up from literally working on the street to having a strong career asking unknown musicians to play for free. The opportunity to play for her is going to carry its own currency. Either due to fan devotion or a resume builder there are motivations for a musician to take up her offer. There's no reason they can't have both the opportunity and the income. Dangling the carrot of exposure in front of someone whose professional growth does depend on that exposure isn't fair if there's the stick of no pay.
She's running a business and has been very vocal about doing so as she writes below.
http://www.amandapalmer.net/blog/why-i-am-not-afraid-to-take-your-money-by-amanda/
I fully support her trying to find new ways for musicians to earn a living. But she needs to run a business and be up front about it. Calling your fans comrades and putting up a front of collaborative DIY love sounds like marketing if you're also writing about the need to be a capitalist. Either your run a business or you run a non-profit in the arts. If you're going to run a business you need pay for your labor. She's not the only one who's earned the right to make a living. Its the inconsistency in her messaging that's bothering me.