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.