Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Amanda Palmer: The art of asking
Video on TED.com: Don't make people pay for music, says Amanda Palmer: Let them. In a passionate talk that begins in her days as a street performer (drop a dollar in the hat for the Eight-Foot Bride!), she examines the new relationship between artist and fan.
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6 comments:
Wow, this talk was astounding in it's analysis of what the music business has the potential to become. To the economist or business person who looks at the income of record labels, the music business is falling and failing. People aren't buying the music that they have the ability to buy online, much less in a store. People have a serious preference for downloading music off the internet for free, and a large portion of people do this not because they want to break the law, but because they have two reasons. The first reason is because they don't have enough money to purchase all of the music that they like. When CDs cost $15 and a song costs $1.29.... it can add up quickly. The second reason is that people don't like the record companies, and would rather pay artists than send any money towards the companies. I think that crowdsourcing is a great form of income, and Amanda's experiences with her crowds are something I believe in. I've gone to see lots of my favorite bands live, and I can say that the live tickets, the merchandise, and donations that the bands ask for, make more money than any record they'll sell. Maybe some of the big name musicians who are the "celebrities" (like Justin Bieber) she speaks of, that are distant, and watched from afar, can use the record label system to their advantage. But, for the majority of musicians who bother to connect with their audiences, crowdsourcing is basically a reliable income, and as she said it, not a "risk" but "trust".
I really like the idea of a "pay what you can" model for the music industry. The only problem is that if a system like this was to be implemented, there really would be no industry left. I would be so much more willing to pay for music if I could choose the price and I knew most of the profit would be going directly to the artist. I am much more likely to pay for music if I can afford it and like the artist. I have illegally downloaded music. If given the choice of paying the artist five dollars for the album versus stealing it for free, I would pay the five dollars every time. Unfortunately, the current music industry price structure is way out of touch with the intended audience.
When faced with the issue of limiting illegal downloads, one shouldn't reinforce legislation but rather look into the source of the problem (I guess that's true of every problem there ever was...) and use that knowledge to their advantage. Because there's a lot to look at here: how is it that people who would otherwise never have committed any kind of crime find themselves stealing music? Is there an decrease in respect for the law? Or is it simply that as this world is changing, so are many of its industries and protocols. Until the music industry changes and adapts, this will be an ongoing problem.
I saw this video for the first time a couple weeks ago and was captivated by this woman's presence as well as her ability to approach this issue in a rational, novel way.
Another article posted this week explains, in short, that we are a generation of Cynics, and I think that's very relevant to internet pirating. Along with the fact that music and movies are readily available for easy (and illegal) download, I believe distrust to be at the heart of this. We distrust our government, other governments, our corporate society and the very rules of this world. How could we possibly trust "the music industry", which exploits artists and doesn't reward their talent with the money they are due (or so I hear, I'm not sure I completely agree - artists need people to process, sometimes edit, advertise, produce and sell their music! - but that's another discussion entirely) ? So there's part of the reason that people steal music online. Amanda Palmer knows that, and that's why she is a successful artist without a label. She looked at the problem to find a solution, not to annihilate it.
I love this story, especially the larger idea of asking for trust and asking for help. I think this is bigger than just the music industry- sure, that's the takeaway lesson from this talk. Its proof that, maybe, this pay what you want idea for music might actually work. That's heartening to hear, and is a model that I hope is explored more in order to keep the artists and musicians alive.
But what I really get from this talk is that asking for help and asking for trust reaps more rewards than putting a price on your time or attention and demanding something in return. It goes back to the asking- if you want something, you have to ask for it. Things that you want don't just appear on their own. Never be afraid to ask- Ms. Palmer shows that people should have more faith in others. She shows that people help people out. And that's the important thing.
This woman is such a beautiful human being. She really understands connection and how far it goes in life. If you want people to work well with you, you have to truly open yourself up to people and trust them. Let them see who you are and let them know you aren't perfect. It's great to see how much you can accomplish by simply asking instead of making. Even by letting people know how you feel about things, like Amanda let people know how she didn't like her record label at all, really shows how personal you want to be and it's great to see that there are people out there who are willing to be relatively vulnerable and opening up to strangers. To work well with others you need to be honest; Amanda definitely is on the right track to helping others understand this.
THis was truly inspiring. I can tell that she truely does what she does because she actually enjoys it. The money aspect of it is purly for living. The idea that when you dont put a price on your music and jsut let your fans give you the money you deserve with out going through record lable is truly inspiring. I dont know if this would work large scale and for everyone. I hope that it would and that people who love music enough would be willing to give for it. If you think about it we already pay for music, the only thing that would be different would be that paying wouldnt be nessicary. it would be donation. which is a lovely idea. im just not sure how feasible it would be on a large scale
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