Amanda Palmer. She’s outspoken, and crass, but she’s doing something right.

In this post she goes into depth about why people shouldn’t be afraid to give their money directly to the artist, and why the artist shouldn’t have any hangups about taking it.

This is a similar view to Zoe Keating, who we recently wrote about: here. Its clear that most musicians don’t live a glamorous life, and these two are prime examples of entrepreneurial thinking to make the music business work for you.

The difference from Zoe is that Amanda Palmer does in fact have a label, a major one at that, but the bulk of her income is directly from her fans, before her label has the chance to filter that money and pay off the advance she was given.

She also makes a point that an internet presence is essential in today’s music culture. People expect it, they crave it, and it adds to the experience of the art, and the artist.

This is a key point, and an opportunity some, if not lots, or bands/artists are missing. People are out there looking for you, its the model of the long tail, you have to be there for them to find you!

This is the new music business, there’s no denying it. Don’t be afraid to give money directly to the artists you love. They deserve it.

If you’re an artist yourself, trying to make it in the business, its not a bad thing for people to pay you for what you’re doing. It is a business after all.

and for the last 10 years, i have been working my ass off in a different way: tirelessly making music, traveling the world, connecting with people, trying to keep my balance, almost never taking a break and, frankly, not making a fortune doing it. i still struggle to pay my rent sometimes. i’m still more or less in debt from my last record. i’ll lay it all out for you in another blog. it’s just math.

if you think i’m going to pass up a chance to put my hat back down in front of the collected audience on my virtual sidewalk and ask them to give their hard-earned money directly to me instead of to roadrunner records, warner music group, ticketmaster, and everyone else out there who’s been shamelessly raping both fan and artist for years, you’re crazy.

Read her blog post here. And read the blog comments for more insight.

Technorati Tags: advice, blog, broadband culture, long tail, Music Business, Music Culture

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at 11:10 am and is filed under Music Business, Music Culture, Music Promotion, Wisdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.