Amanda Palmer's How to Ask (analysis)

How does Amanda Palmer reshape the “business” of music?

Amanda Palmer in my mind has developed a revolutionary way of thinking about the music industry and the way that it should work. To many of us the music industry is all about increasing and maximizing profits and in many ways it is. However in this TED talk Amanda Palmer outlines her ideas of what the music industry should be about. She comes up with a way of asking for money for her music instead of making people pay for that music. After being dropped from her major music label she began putting her music online for free. With this she says that she has found that people are more than willing to give money when they feel that special connection and that giving that money allows her to connect to her fans in a greater, more significant way. She addresses the opposition to this idea as well, saying it is not begging it is simply asking for which allows a connection. Though her ideas are valid and are a new way of thinking I don’t completely agree with what she has to say. I still feel like, after she did address that it is not begging, that in some way it is still a way of using people’s emotions and “connections” to her to get money out of them, or in a sense “cheating” as she called. We all know that many aspects of the music industry are corrupt or unfair and to me this seems no different in that aspect.

How does she redefine the relationship between artist and fans?

In this TED talk Amanda Palmer also outlined how she believed that the performer and fan should connect and interact. She says that the music business should be all about a connection to the fans. She says at one point that celebrities live off the love of the fans however it is very distant. Palmer believes this is wrong, she thinks that every fan should have a connection with the performer. One way she outlined this in her talk, was the picture of her stripped letting random fans sign her naked body. To me this showed her commitment to what she was saying. With this picture she also talked about the trust she had in her fans. With her couch hopping from place to place she was forced to connect and trust random people she had never met. And she believes that is what every artist must do to form that special relationship with their friends; they have to trust their fans.

How does her presentational style, both as a street artist and TED speaker reflect and support this relationship?

At the beginning of the TED talk Amanda Palmer opens with a personal story or in many ways a secret. This immediately causes the view to pity her and also in many ways connect with her which is what the speech is all about. In this story at the beginning she talks about her life as a street performer. She talks about how this is where she got the idea of a connection with the audience. She talked about how that every person that tipped her received a flower and a stare in the eyes and with that stare Palmer received an instant connection. And she carried this love of connection into her life as a musician.