Amanda Palmer Chats with Her Audience

Hypebot has a recap of an Amanda Palmer show at the State Theatre. She came out before the opening act to answer questions from the audience. The crowd was aware of the agenda before they came to the show. It's all about artists connecting with fans. The writer explains that he left the venue just before 1am and Amanda was still at the merch table chatting with them. Dedication + Talent = Great Satisfaction.

Lily Allen: FIle Sharing is Bad

This story has been heavily covered online, so much so that Lily might actually become a household name in the States, where so far she's had limited exposure as a musician. She has a blog (which as I am writing, has no posts on it. She says she's putting down site since there has been too much abuse.) where she has been pontificating that illegal file sharing is bad. Other musicians have weighed in on this, including Elton John, who seems to be conflicted on the issue. Isn't she a little late to the table? Hasn't this been going on for years? Other artists like Amanda Palmer, Trent Reznor, Radiohead, etc have been embracing file sharing, twitter, the Internet, etc and having great results.

Techdirt points out that she may be an offender herself, worthy of a fine or being arrested. She has mixtapes posted on her website which contain free downloads of music other than her own. Her response to Techdirt: I made those mixtapes 5 years ago, i didn't have a knowledge of the workings of the music industry back then... There was plenty of time to take them down.

Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer wrote to Bob Lefsetz about her experiences with her record label, Roadrunner Records and her fight to be dropped from the label. She recorded a song called Please Drop Me to the tune of Moon River. Shades of Graham Parker's Mercury Poisoning. She's a member of the Dresden Dolls and made a solo record with producer Ben Folds in Nashville. Not being able to listen to Please Drop Me, I still decided to follow the link she provided. My puppy is sleeping (I have to grab the time when I get it), so audio was out of the question. Amanda is entertaining and informative. I guess I shouldn't find this story hard to believe, but it is. From her Leftsetz posting:

i had to EXPLAIN to the so-called "head of digital media" of roadrunner australia WHAT TWITTER WAS. and his brush-off that "it hasn't caught on here yet" was ABSURD because the next day i twittered that i was doing an impromptu gathering in a public park and 12 hours later, 150 underage fans - who couldn't attend the show - showed up to get their records signed.

Here are some other links to read about what makes her tick. I promise to listen to her song as soon as Dusty wakes up. I'm intrigued.

The Dresden Dolls
Who Killed Amanda Palmer
Amanda Palmer