Should we all hate Amanda Palmer?

I've been loosely following some controversy that's erupted recently over Amanda Palmer. (she's the singer from the Dresden Dolls, who now does that kind of neo-cabaret or whatever you call it, but these days solo rather than with the Dresden Dolls). More specifically, over the revelation that the ad hoc musicians joining her on stage for her upcoming US tour will not be paid to play with her; they just get to do it for the yucks. Many people think: a) this is terrible, and b) this is especially terrible, given that Amanda Palmer has recently raised over $1 million via Kickstarter. There was an interesting article on it on Caustic's VampireFreak's blog that got me thinking about it.

So should we all hate Amanda Palmer? I'll go through a few points.

Firstly, I think Kickstarter is great. I recently funded the development of a super nerdy computer strategy game, Planetary Annihilation via Kickstarter. They've done enormously well out of it and more power to them. I intend to fund some more Kickstarter projects in the future. I don't necessarily think that this is entirely the way that everything should be done, but I think the world is a better place for the existence of Kickstarter and its crowdsourcing ilk.

Secondly, I don't think the argument "I gave her money on Kickstarter, how dare she go and do [blah] on this tour!" holds any water. If you gave her money on Kickstarter, that was your call. You don't own her. Also, the money was for the album (plus other album-related gimmicks if you put in more money). It wasn't a Kickstarter for "give heaps of money to my buddy musicians to play a tour". If people fronted up the cash for an album, then they should get an album, and they should complain if they don't get an album. They don't get to be tour manager.

Thirdly, Amanda and Caustic are kinda right, insofar as music is a shitty, awful business to be in. You work hard and make almost nothing. I've certainly made nothing out of it, after many years of DJing, releasing music, putting on clubs, and bringing out bands. If you want to be rich, go be a drug dealer or a lawyer. Now that doesn't mean of course that everybody is entitled to rip you off at every step of the way because "you're just doing it for the love, man". People want to make money out of it; it's just very hard to do. But another way of looking at it: if it's a shitty broke business for Amanda Palmer who's just got one mill from Kickstarter, it is probably really shitty for the (essentially session) musicians helping her out.

So what do I think? On the one hand, I definitely don't think people have earned a right to tell her how to do run her damn tour, just because they fronted up $10 or whatever on some website, for an album they haven't heard yet. However, on the other hand, and this is where I disagree with the Caustics and Amanda Palmers of the world, I think the people going to see the shows have an expectation, and a reasonable expectation, that some small amount of their ticket price is going to go to all the people who make the concert happen. This has NOTHING to do with Kickstarter. Many of the people at the shows may not have donated to this album or even heard of Kickstarter. But if I go see a show, with a band (almost an orchestra) and pay $30 or whatever, I will be expecting that some of the money I've paid is going to be distributed, in some fashion, to the people who make the concert happen. The singer, the manager, the venue, the roadies, THE BAND, the sound guy, etc. If I found out that some people that helped make the show happen didn't get anything, I would be disappointed.

Does it happen? All the damn time! I've lost count of the number of times I've DJ'ed or played in a band and been paid nothing. Most of the time, it's been because the event has broken even or lost money. Somebody's  getting something; usually the venue. People most of the time don't have even visibility, let alone control, of this distribution of money. Amanda Palmer was foolish enough to let the cat out of the bag. Could she manage the finances of the tour such that these people get paid? I'd like to think so; it's hard to say without being part of her business, which I am obviously not. So I don't think what is happening with this tour is great, but I don't think she's deceiving or ripping off her Kickstarter supporters. Music is a shitty, shitty game (financially). Somebody almost always loses out. This time it just became publicly obvious who this was. But I guess the musicians have said they're happy doing it for the yucks, so it's really their call.

Tubehopping!

I've come up with a fun game, called Tubehopping. Here's how it works. Go to Youtube, and think of a song, any song in the whole world. Search for it and listen to it. When it's finished, check the Recommended Videos on the right, and pick one by a different band than the one you just listened to (there should be at least one or two). Try and choose one by a band you've never heard of. Listen to that song. Repeat. It's fun!

So yesterday I felt like listening to S.P.O.C.K.'s "Last Man on Earth", the last song on their 1993 debut album "Five Year Mission" (for those unfortunate enough not to know S.P.O.C.K., they are a Swedish synthpop band who do songs based around Star Trek characters and stories; yes it is as awesome as it sounds). So listened to that, then jumped to a semi-decent Culture Kultur song (don't know much about them). Then decided I finally needed to listen to Frozen Plasma (dear God, they're as bad as I'd heard). Then I spotted a VNV remix of a Lights of Euphoria song I don't mind (I have grown to completely hate VNV Nation, but Lights of Euphoria haven't made my shitlist yet). Then I spotted... what the hell? A VNV Nation remix of a Within Temptation song? I'm happy to stand up and say that I really like Within Temptation. But what the hell are they doing prostituting themselves by collaborating with VNVengaBoys? Anyway, it was as awful as you would imagine (I submit for the prosecution Exhibit A, below).

Having landed at Within Temptation, I then proceeded to take a merry tour of a whole bunch of odd Scandinavian and German folk-metal / goth-metal bands on Nuclear Blast, most of them moderately terrible, including a very odd group who mainly sing in Gaulish (a thoroughly extinct European language which nobody has spoken for around a millenia and a half), and somehow ended up with the hilarious film clip for "Superheroes" by German cock-rock band Edguy (which I somehow stumbled upon a couple of years ago). Rock on! Anyway, to play us out, take it away Edguy!

PS: Tubehopping is fun, give it a try.

Always be ready for anything!

Well a few days ago it turned I was called upon to perform a very impromptu DJ set at a club called Foundry at the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville. One of the DJs was facing technical issues that made his set an impossibility, so I ran home, grabbed my giant CD bag of doom, ran back, and put together a set on the fly! Goes to show you need to be prepared, anything can happen. Played some big, loud, stomping industrial club hits, and it went down well. I started a bit late so didn't have a whole lot of time. This is what I played.

Reaper: Urnensand

Noisuf-X: Tinnitus (remixed by Implant)

Implant: Violence (Mizuh remix)

Modulate: Electronic Battle Weapon

Soman: Mask

Uberbyte: Industrial Bitch

Combichrist: Lying sack of sh1t

Rosewater: NME

I'd forgotten how good the Implant remix of Tinnitus is... go have a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpLZJQGc86k