I am fortunate enough to attend SXSW this year as fan, artist and as a panelist. So much good stuff to see. But here are some highlights.
March 13th. 12:30pm I’m gonna start my day at the Anatomy of Amanda F-ing Palmer. While I sometimes disagree with Ms. Palmer about things (crowd funding helps incumbent artists like myself but not necessarily unknown artists) there is no denying that she has set a bold example for how independent artists can operate in this day and age. Before her Kickstarter success the conversation was about whether artists should be paid to record at all. You know, sell T-shirts and such. Thanks to Ms. Palmer, the conversation is now about how artists should be paid to record.
March 13th 4:00 pm. Camper Van Beethoven at the Brooklyn Vegan Party.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2013/03/brooklynvegan_f_5.html
March 13th 7:00 pm Camper Van Beethoven at the Make Your Mark Party.
March 14th 2:00pm David Lowery panelist at the “Big Data: New Oil or Snake Oil”
http://schedule.sxsw.com/2013/events/event_MP4094
Right after that I’m gonna race over and see:
March 14th 3:30pm East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys at “Infamous Band Disputes & How to Avoid Them.”
March 15th 5:00 pm David Lowery panelist at “Who’s ripping you off now.”
http://schedule.sxsw.com/2013/events/event_MP3736
Hope to see you there!
The Trichordist 
David
Amanda Palmer is the Marie “Let them eat cake” Antoinette of the music technologists.
When Amanda Palmer is generally mentioned. always missing is one massive fact…her financial background & her “well-known” published & well-connected author husband…. (if you have money, you generally have connections & know others with money)
From
http://www.digiday.com/etc/the-contrarian-take-on-social-media/
“Well, how did that person get all those followers?” The “how” is critical to the story, but it’s rarely mentioned. Amanda Palmer is a great example of this. She had a successful Kickstarter campaign, and so media outlets were saying, “Look at what you can do with Kickstarter!” and “Amanda Palmer is proof it works!” But nobody mentioned that her husband is one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, and that Amanda was the lead singer of the Dresden Dolls, which has a pretty large following. Those details got omitted from the story, and they’re very important because the Internet is great, if you’re rich, but if you’re like me and just a normal person, it’s a total crapshoot. Maybe you do get lucky. It’s entirely possible, but it’s highly unlikely.”
What is crucial in the discussion is:
How does an upcoming artist support themselves, pay their living expenses & bills over the long-term as they work to get known?
In discussing Amanda Palmer the specifics of the financing are very important if she is to be used as a role model. E.g. How did she support herself financially at Wesleyan? Student loans?, How did she support herself and her travels financially as “The Eight Foot Bride”? , How did she support herself financially during the Dresden Dolls period? etc.,
I hate to say it, but I often wonder exactly the same thing. I am a schmuck with NO family wealth behind me, and no rich spouse. Is “indie music” a vanity project for the trust fund crowd at this point? Seriously, for a lot of people, that’s a very, very real question. We folks from poor or working-class backgrounds can’t take ANY lessons on how to hit a triple from people who were, as the saying goes, born on third base. She’s a fine artist, but … I still don’t think I can learn a thing from her example.
Reblogged this on Mae Mai and commented:
“I’m gonna start my day at the Anatomy of Amanda F-ing Palmer. While I sometimes disagree with Ms. Palmer about things (crowd funding helps incumbent artists like myself but not necessarily unknown artists) there is no denying that she has set a bold example for how independent artists can operate in this day and age.”