http://www.amandapalmer.net/blog/20120919/
I don't likely have time to go in to great detail about all my thoughts with this, but I'll try and summarize what I meant to write within the last week, and now my reaction to this.
#1) The musicians she is/was asking to play with her KNEW about the circumstances before volunteering/being selected to play with her.
#2) these were in all likelihood going to be LOCAL musicians, or musicians that were to play for the show that were in THEIR HOMETOWN ONLY.
#3) Amanda has about 35 shows on this tour where she made this request (North America and Europe), and given that, just do the math about HOW MANY DIFFERENT MUSICIANS would be playing with her. 10 per show? 15 per show? maybe even up to 25 per show? I just guessed if it were to average 15 per show, 15 x 35 = 525 musicians. So there's a good chance she's be playing with approximately 500 different musicians on this tour.
#4) The Kickstarter Money. Yes, she raised the unthinkable $1.2 million dollars, but if PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ MORE ABOUT IT, they'd have realized SHE HAD A BUDGET AND PLAN FOR MORE OR LESS EVERY CENT OF THAT MONEY ALREADY, WHICH DID NOT INCLUDE PAYING 1-OFF PERFORMANCE MUSICIANS AT EVERY GIG.
#5) And let's say she wanted to change things and actually PAY each and every musician that played with her. Okay, how much? $100? well, that's $50K right there. Even $50 would be $25K, or MORE????? Again, she OUTLINED IN DETAIL where EVERY CENT was going more or less, and the 1-off show players were not in that plan.
#6) Should they be in that plan? Well, maybe, but 1st and foremost, THAT'S HER DECISION. Is it SELFISH? I guess it should seem payment enough, if you are an unknown musician just with the chance to gain exposure and experience playing with her and her band, in front of a large crowd who likely have never seen you play before anyway. Plus the other little perks like free tickets, beer, etc that she mentioned.
#7) In just considering numbers, $100 is an extra 50K, $50 25K, I concluded maybe around $20 or $25 wouldn't be so outlandish in moving $ around, or instead, Amanda just BUYS THEM ALL DINNER perhaps.
That all being said, from a PR standpoint, this does help, but I will stand by that I don't think she needed to do this. But whatevah.
I hopefully will write some kind of review soon of Theatre Is Evil, as I do like her new album quite a bit, although not quite as much as my initial impression. The bonus tracks for the Kickstarters are pretty tasty, including "The Ukele Song" namely.
For what it's worth, it charted today on Billboard, for its 1st week at #10. Nice Fuck You to Record Labels, but given it's hype and distribution, for a 1st week, that doesn't seem so surprising.
