Amanda Palmer

Nobody got hurt when Amanda Palmer made $1 million on her Kickstarter. Personally I think her popularity is a closed loop: Everyone who planned on buying her album has already given to her Kickstarter, and the kind of music she writes is unlikely to hit in a mainstream way. Most of the hate came from people who don't like her music. I don't like her music. But making music that doesn't appeal to me doesn't hurt anyone.

But then she asked fans to perform with her on her tour in exchange for... what exactly? Beer, hi-fives and hugs? The chance to say you performed with Amanda Palmer? Performing for Amanda Palmer for free doesn't prove anything about your talents as a musician. It just proves you'd play with Amanda Palmer for free. With that announcement, she is now hurting people. There are thousands of talented horn and string players in America who are teaching music or working some other day job to pay the bills. Considering the influence musicals and big band have had on her music, many of them are probably fans of Amanda Palmer. They might even be willing to tour with her for a reduced scale wage. But I guarantee right now there's dozens of A- and B-level singer songwriters and their managers waiting to see if this amateur volunteer orchestra will work so they can try it themselves.

Here's what I think happened: Amanda Palmer saw her Kickstarter grow bigger and much quicker than she anticipated, got even more ambitious, and really upped the ante on how she was going to use the money. The album packaging became more elaborate, only the best materials would be used. Then, maybe while choosing what texture of paper to line the limited edition vinyl case, someone showed her how much this would really cost. Careful planning would have kept her from seemingly getting in over her head. $1 million is a lot of money, a seemingly limitless amount. But as she said in her blog post, the breakdown of cost per unit adds up quickly. I think she was intoxicated by the generosity of her fans, and perhaps thought that if they think she's special enough to warrant $1 million, they would give her their talents as musicians so she wouldn't have to skimp on  her (incredibly elaborate) product. But be clear: She is asking for volunteers because she ran out of money. She had more than a million dollars and she ran out. 

Bon Iver's backing band is a small army of incredibly talented musicians (many of whom are popular in their own right) and he's been touring across the plant for the better part of a year. He's getting support from Jagjaguwar and potentially 4AD, neither of whom are known for blockbuster album sales. He's most likely losing a fortune on it, but at least he respects musicians enough to develop a band and pay them (I can only hope) a decent wage .

It sounds crass to say, but this comes down to money and how it's used. Her public persona does nothing to dispel the notion that she's a real-life Manic Pixie Dream Girl, lost in her own imagination and probably annoyed when her managers attempt to discuss budgeting with her. It's not fun to make budgets and plan how to spend your money wisely, but $1 million is a lot of money, and careful planning could have led to her hiring a really great group of string and horn players to accompany her on tour, instead of potentially setting a bad precedent for working musicians.