I wouldn't exactly say that Amanda is actually "reshaping" the industry of music. This idea of a connection between the artist and his or her band has always existed as long as it didn't really go alongside the mainstream. There are artists/bands like Katy Perry, loved by millions but untouchable in every way. Then there are artists/bands like Amesaki Annainin [one of my favourite Japanese bands of all time. Ex. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G_gdIzibuk (I'm really just using this as an opportunity to spread the fandom)] whom you could actually meet and do stuff with, but still qualify as their "fans" because you listen to their music and pay for it with that intention. Many other bands work this way, it's just that Amanda happened to take this idea of being able to mingle with the "celebrity" one step farther by completely making her music free and "asking" for the favour of money back. She didn't change anything, but she took it to a level that hasn't been seen before.
A true community of fans and artists should render the two entities essentially "friends", exchanging one 'service' for another. I know how this is, being part of the Touhou fanbase. In the Touhou music industry (a remix-ing industry that spawns off the work of a single man, ZUN) bands are called "circles" because they aren't really bands, but rather circles of friends making music. I, for one, have been an "artist" in an American "circle" once before, and I can say it works like being a group of friends both in the relationship in the band and with the fans. The fans (which include myself) can either choose to torrent Touhou music (as it is readily available) or they can actually go to the circle's website and buy an album to support them. Although this isn't what Amanda did, there is the same feeling of mutual support between every one of us in the industry since we are totally aware of the choice of support of the music vs the support of the artist(s). She does not redefine it, yet once again she just takes it a step farther, even for the non-mainstream.
As for her actual appearance at TED, she dresses in that stereotypical hipster fashion that I've come to both admire and hate. Quite frankly I didn't like how she goes about things physically or with her words, and I especially didn't like how she sort of talked about what she has done in a way suggesting that there isn't that much of a connection between the artist and the fan. In the end she just seemed like...one of the many pretentious hipsters. Other than that, I admire her. Her style as a street artist is very praiseworthy, but I wouldn't feel like I can enjoy her style as a person in a few ways.
A true community of fans and artists should render the two entities essentially "friends", exchanging one 'service' for another. I know how this is, being part of the Touhou fanbase. In the Touhou music industry (a remix-ing industry that spawns off the work of a single man, ZUN) bands are called "circles" because they aren't really bands, but rather circles of friends making music. I, for one, have been an "artist" in an American "circle" once before, and I can say it works like being a group of friends both in the relationship in the band and with the fans. The fans (which include myself) can either choose to torrent Touhou music (as it is readily available) or they can actually go to the circle's website and buy an album to support them. Although this isn't what Amanda did, there is the same feeling of mutual support between every one of us in the industry since we are totally aware of the choice of support of the music vs the support of the artist(s). She does not redefine it, yet once again she just takes it a step farther, even for the non-mainstream.
As for her actual appearance at TED, she dresses in that stereotypical hipster fashion that I've come to both admire and hate. Quite frankly I didn't like how she goes about things physically or with her words, and I especially didn't like how she sort of talked about what she has done in a way suggesting that there isn't that much of a connection between the artist and the fan. In the end she just seemed like...one of the many pretentious hipsters. Other than that, I admire her. Her style as a street artist is very praiseworthy, but I wouldn't feel like I can enjoy her style as a person in a few ways.
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