So, how does a cult musician like that become a figure of popular sport? A lot of circumstances conspired to introduce her to the larger public, from a heavy online presence to her relationship with popular writer Neil Gaiman. But the turning point came when she broke from her label, took to Kickstarter to crowd-source funding for her next project, and raised — remarkably, unexpectedly — more than a million dollars. And negative reactions to that press were merely warm-up for the main hating-Palmer event, which arrived when she, in the course of assembling a tour, asked fans to volunteer at various stops to play strings and horns as part of her band, unpaid. This was, technically, just another facet of that intimate connection with the audience — letting them participate in the music-making, a daydream-come-true for plenty of fans. Palmer suggested she was returning her Kickstarter windfall to fans in the forms of lavish gifts for donors; others saw her rough budget breakdowns as a festival of profligacy and unnecessary costs.
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Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer [3] born April 30, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who was the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She attended Lexington High School , where she was involved in the drama department, [9] and attended Wesleyan University [10] where she was a member of the Eclectic Society. Another early influence is Judy Blume , an author of children's books. With an interest in the performing arts, both in music and in theatre, Palmer spent time busking as a living statue called "The Eight Foot Bride" in Harvard Square , Cambridge, Massachusetts ; Edinburgh, Scotland; Australia where she met Jason Webley ; [14] as well as many other locations. I can paint my face And stand very, very still It's not very practical But it still pays the bills. In an effort to expand the performance experience and interactivity, Palmer began inviting Lexington High School students to perform drama pieces at the Dresden Dolls' live shows. This evolved to The Dirty Business Brigade, a troupe of seasoned and new artists, performing at many gigs.
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Amanda Palmer wouldn't exist in her current form without Patreon. That's not to say Amanda Palmer the person would dematerialize if Patreon didn't exist, but Amanda Palmer the artist would be a completely different beast. As it stands, Palmer is an independent musician churning out music videos, new songs, complete albums, blazingly honest social media diaries and bits of international activism on the daily. She's constantly online, sharing her life as a touring artist, mother, wife and modern human with more than 1 million people on Twitter alone. She responds to a shocking number of tweets. All of this is funded through Patreon. She takes that cash and turns it into art, bypassing restrictive corporate contracts and pop-obsessed music labels.
Now she is a folk singer, a genre that often takes up the cause of social justice. This throws her peculiarly unjust plan into still sharper relief. Beneath that, however, is an interesting set of problems about art and work in an age when the mechanisms for valuing them have broken down. A brief primer on what happened: when the Dolls went on hiatus near the end of last decade, Palmer set forth as a solo artist. So Palmer did a reasonable thing, given such obstacles: she circumvented the major-label ecology, and asked fans to become more or less direct investors, to take an ownership share in her work. Depending on the pledge, they would receive some items from the planned cornucopia: music recordings in various formats, a related art book, chances to party with the artist herself. Top-tier supporters would even get the occasional bonus item of artisanal nature. That is not a particularly folksy sum, but not yet the stuff of ignominy. Album in hand, Palmer prepared to tour.
