Amanda Palmer TED: The art of asking

Amanda Palmer reshapes the business of music by not doing what everyone would expect of a usual upcoming artist. She would use twitter to ask about places to stay, usually at fans houses, also asking about instruments that she could borrow and use from her fans. Their band would have random artists and players from out on the street come perform with them on stage during shows. People would bring them home cooked food. She would do random and spontaneous gigs anywhere and everywhere. But not only does she redefine the business of music by being out and very involved with her fans, she also posts her music for free, what she calls crowd-funding. With only trying to get a hundred thousand dollars, she raised 1.2 million. She redefined the way the she sold music and the way her fans supported her.

She also points out how she doesn’t make them support her; she asks them, she only did this through making connections with her fans. This only made them want to help her raise money.  This was her in another way, changing how the music business works.

                Amanda Palmer has a very special relationship with her fans, she does what she calls couch surfing. Where their band just stays at their fans houses for the night to sleep and gives their fans a chance to hang out with them. She really shows how much time she spends with her fans, whether its tweeting with them, sleeping at their house, or giving autographs, she loves to make connections with her fans. They would not only make connections with their fans through all of the personal efforts, but also through their music.

                I like how she starts off with saying that she used to work on the street dressed up as the 8 foot bride, and hearing how far she has actually come from being that street performer to someone on stage giving a TED talk. I like how her appearance and way she moves around stage is probably how comfortable she is on a normal stage. She looks like she is dressed for just an everyday event. Her tone when she’s talking sounds every appreciative, especially when she is talking about her fans and how much they give to her. At some points she sounds shocked, of still how many the fans really care and how much they would do for her.Overall I really liked this TED talk, I really enjoyed hearing how she would make all of these different connections with her fans and how they really did want to support her in the end.