Protected: The Dea(r)th of Indie Rock, or Why Amanda “F-ing” Palmer Can Suck It

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  • http://@leninstomb CK

    Some good points, but I have to disagree. AFP has always had a good relationship with fans, and there seems to be a market for it, as the hardcore fans don’t seem to mind paying.

    As for signing up with a legacy industry, most artists still have some sort of distribution model that is tied to record companies. She’s no fan of the labels, look up her ill-fated deal with Roadrunner. I think she’d agree with you that the music industry is the past, and charging her fans for access etc is the future.

    And for an interaction that wasn’t associated with an outreached hand (ahem) check out her twitter dialogue from last night about how to best tweet a vagina.

  • http://sean-graham.com Sean Graham

    I think your dislike of her music has caused you to totally misread her post.

    First off, she’s not asking to have it both ways, she has (publicly) been disappointed in her relationship with her record label for years now, and has recently begun experimenting with other ways to pay the bills. You suggest she’s trying to have it both ways, but instead she has realized that one way isn’t helping her eat and chosen to try and find another.

    “She self-deprecatingly describes herself and her fans as “The Losers of Friday Night”

    She was sitting around tweeting on a Friday night, realized it wasn’t very rock-n-roll, and started to post about how it would be fun for all the rest of her followers who wanted to join her club of “LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS”, to which many many people joined in. It’s not as if she just started calling her fans losers. They were all self-deprecating together.

    Many artists have experimented with alternative ways of funding their albums and music. LONG before Jill Sobule was dabbling in patronage there was Einsturzende Neubaten’s Perpetuum Mobile and Momus’ Stars Forever.

    If you think your trip to the Ra Ra Rejects show this week wasn’t them with an outstretched hand you’re insane. After the record industry collapses in a few years, expect to see all musicians experimenting similarly.

    Listen, I’m not the hugest Amanda Palmer fan, I’m defending her because she’s from Boston and has always been pleasant when we’ve bumped into each other. I think you’re being a little over-critical on this one because you simply don’t like the person.

  • http://unqualified.org Brian

    Chris, some good points. Maybe she has a good relationship with her hardcore fans, but she doesn’t seem to be doing anything to ingratiate herself to non-fans. And I’m well aware of her troubles with Roadrunner, including her “love song” to the label.

    Sean, I think you need to go back and re-read her post. Most of her screed is the result of her lackey Beth suggesting she do a webcast not accompanied by an outstretched hand. She even says herself, “how you do it is a different matter” and “maybe i should be more tasteful”. I’m glad someone finds value in t-shirts drawn in Sharpie or postcards that she’s chewed on camera. I don’t.

    As I said, I’m well aware of her long-running problems with RoadRunner records. If you read other posts in her blog, she talks about her deal (3 records and 4 options) and complains that a record of B-sides and leftover tracks from Yes, Virginia didn’t count against her contract with RoadRunner records.

    I’m sorry, but I think she is asking to have it both ways. If she wants so badly out of her deal with RoadRunner, fulfill the fucking contract. She seemingly signed a bad deal by giving RoadRunner 4 options on top of 3 guaranteed records (if I’m interpreting that correctly). Many artists make far more money off their touring and merchandising than they do off their records. Jason Ringenberg (of Jason & the Scorchers fame) is a cautionary tale. Ringenberg went back to mowing lawns after the Scorchers disbanded, because he didn’t make any money from EMI despite international hits.

    I welcome the collapse of the labels, although I have my doubts that it’ll happen in a few years. I think the Internet has become the great democratizing technology to allow people to bypass major labels. Indie labels like Barsuk and Jagjaguwar seem to be doing just fine.

    The Ra Ra Riot show was great. And while I realized that it was accompanied by an outstretched hand, I think the tone of the question is as important as the content. I could have used my blog contacts to get me a free ticket to the show, but I decided to put my money where my mouth was. I gave them money, and they gave me a great show, not a statuette of Heath Ledger or 7th grade love note. It’s not my fucking problem that Amanda Fucking Palmer sunk $80K of her own fucking money into her fucking solo album and fucking tour. If she can gross roughly $30K with minimal effort from activities apart from her record sales and normal touring activities and she still has trouble paying her rent, she’s doing something wrong.

    I loathe Boston. My first (and only) trip to the city involved me asking a customer service agent for directions to a different part of the airport, and receiving a lazy & utterly unhelpful response in typical Boston mushmouth accent. While wandering around trying to get my bearings, I was approached by a gentleman in an airport uniform. He asked me if I needed help, and in an African accent proceeded to give me exact directions to where I needed to go. Funny that the most helpful person in that miserable excuse of an airport was someone who wasn’t even born in this country.

    And I hate the fucking Pats & the fucking Dead Sox, too. The only reason I would even come to Boston is if I had no other choice when it came to visiting someone.

  • http://sean-graham.com Sean Graham

    You need to get ahold of your emotions. You seem to be looking to lash out at anyone you possible can. I simply mention that I live in Boston and you go on a screed.

    And I did re-read the article. Sure, she uses her friends mention of doing a free webcast as a jumping off point. So what?

    She’s not allowed to bitch that she signed a bad contract? I know quite a few small and indie musicians, several of which have signed contracts with major record labels. They all bitch about it and they all regret it. So she’s doing it in public. Big whoop, she’s not the first.

    Feel free to spin your wheel of bitterness and loathing again, maybe you’ll rant about puppies or the poor, but I’m done feeding the troll here.

  • http://unqualified.org Brian

    Why do I need to get ahold of my emotions? It’s my fucking blog. And how am I lashing out at anyone I possibly can? I just elucidated my feelings on Boston, a city I can live without. I have similar feelings about Vegas, another city I never need to visit again unless I had a personal connection there.

    I think I spelled it out pretty clearly, in both mine and in Ms. Palmer’s own words. I find her tone offensive, and I find her anger over the suggestion that she hold a webcast that doesn’t include an outstretched hand a bit laughable.

    Sure, she is allowed to bitch, but that kvetching and 75 cents will get her a soda. Again, I don’t really know what all the details of her deal with RoadRunner are, but they don’t seem inclined to drop her.

    Boy, I really touched a nerve here with your rush to her defense, didn’t I? For the record, I like some of the songs on Who Killed Amanda Palmer better than much of her Dolls material, but in general I just don’t “grok” music that’s unmelodic and dissonant for dramatic effect. Notice I didn’t piss all over your Twitter feed and blog after you went to see SSSC or NIN/JA. I think you need to chill the fuck out.

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