Amanda Palmer crowdsourced strings

[apropos of nothing]

I went to see Amanda Palmer last night.

There's a fair amount of controversy around her decision to ask for a volunteer string&horn section for her show, particularly in light of her very successful Kickstarter campaign. Enough so that Steve Albini made a snarky comment, and public apology.
http://amyvs.weebly.com/1/post/2012/09/letter-to-amanda-palmer.html
http://www.amandapalmer.net/blog/20120913/
http://www.nme.com/news/amanda-palmer/66100

Since we seem to have a nuanced view of voluntarism, gettin' paid and a deep passion for music around here, I'd be very interested in comments from the forum on the topic.

Thanks!
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-Jj
Boogie piano, punk rock, Minneapolis funk, metal guitar, synth pop

[dfuruta]

I think this would be totally fine if her concerts were free.

[Nick Sevilla]

[apropos of nothing]

I note that Mr. Colletti, a frequent contributor to the magazine and board has written an interesting take.
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-Jj
Boogie piano, punk rock, Minneapolis funk, metal guitar, synth pop

[groover]

I just LOVE the music business!

I, too, like and agree with Mr. Colletti's response/essay.

[vvv]

I agree with JC.

I hadda ask m'self, what would he do?

O' Gawd, did I really just say that?

I agree with Mr. Coletti.
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vlayman; THD; blog; TFP

[No Wave Casio Kitsch]

The idea of inviting fans on stage to perform is very cool, but the way Amanda Palmer has gone about it in this circumstance is shameful.

[telepathy]

^^^^^^^^^ what he said.

this could have been much less of an issue if she had any tact or self-awareness.
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get up with it

the Soul Shop
all-analog in Boston, Mass

[dgrieser]

I've never heard of Amanda Palmer before this. I doubt I'll look anything up about her.
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Hillbilly Chamber Music
http://hillbillychambermusic.bandcamp.com

[dfuruta]

Looked up a track on youtube earlier, and I don't really get it. Just seems like some bad alt-rock/lite-punk.

[vvv]

She came to my attention because of her husband, Neil Gaiman who is a pretty good writer (American Gods, Anansi Boys, InterWorld were all good, especially the first), and because of her theatricality, which the music press writes up fairly regularly. I think she wrote a semi-successful musical a cuppla years ago, appeared topless, etc.

BTW, I didn't vote above, preferring "Questionable" as my answer.
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vlayman; THD; blog; TFP

[Scodiddly]

I'm a live sound guy too, so I found Mr. Colletti's take interesting.

But going further, what about volunteers and reliability? I've worked my share of gigs where the school/church/whatever promised volunteer stagehands. And of course anybody who's had experience with this knows that a fair number vanish after the show is done (but before the loadout is complete), etc.

So I wonder what the volunteer commitment is here. If I'd signed on as a player, but had to cancel last minute to take a paying gig, what's my responsibility? What could the fallout be?

[Scodiddly]

I'm a live sound guy too, so I found Mr. Colletti's take interesting.

But going further, what about volunteers and reliability? I've worked my share of gigs where the school/church/whatever promised volunteer stagehands. And of course anybody who's had experience with this knows that a fair number vanish after the show is done (but before the loadout is complete), etc.

So I wonder what the volunteer commitment is here. If I'd signed on as a player, but had to cancel last minute to take a paying gig, what's my responsibility? What could the fallout be?

[T-rex]

That is totally ridiculous. I'll admit, the $1.2 million figure looms greatly in my mind in stating how ridiculous this is. I see local people in the music scene help people out like this all the time, but I really feel that in this situation; she is exploiting the musicians. Tons of artists record albums with various parts that they can not recreate on stage due to their finances not allowing them to bring a keyboard player for three parts in two songs or an entire string section for the bridge of one song. Some artists tour solo because that's all they can afford. So when I see someone bring in that amount of money and then ask for volunteers to play for free beer, I can't separate the two.


Also, am I the only one that thinks the name, Grand Theft Orchestra is hilarious now?
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[Asked whether his shades are prescription or just to look cool]
Guy: Well, I am the drummer.

[cgarges]

I cannot begin to fathom going into a tour with $1.2 million of it already covered and then asking people to perform for free. Fuck her.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
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www.chrisgarges.com
www.oldhousestudio.com
Bunky Moon, The Public Good
Playing drums with Mitch Easter

[cgarges]

I cannot begin to fathom going into a tour with $1.2 million of it already covered and then asking people to perform for free. Fuck her.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
_________________
www.chrisgarges.com
www.oldhousestudio.com
Bunky Moon, The Public Good
Playing drums with Mitch Easter

[Scodiddly]

Well, it *is* pretty easy to spend a million touring, depending on scale of production and whatnot.

Having had a long drive to mull it over, my reaction to her blog post (gist of it "I do a lot of gigs for free - it's part of my art") is that she can afford to do a lot of free gigs, because she makes more money off others. Averaged out, she's making money on all her gigs.

The retail term is "loss leader", sale items that are cheaper than cost to bring in customers who will buy other items as well.

[Scodiddly]

Well, it *is* pretty easy to spend a million touring, depending on scale of production and whatnot.

Having had a long drive to mull it over, my reaction to her blog post (gist of it "I do a lot of gigs for free - it's part of my art") is that she can afford to do a lot of free gigs, because she makes more money off others. Averaged out, she's making money on all her gigs.

The retail term is "loss leader", sale items that are cheaper than cost to bring in customers who will buy other items as well.