We can probably just anoint Amanda Palmer as the Queen of Crowdfunding and be done with it. The New York-based Dresden Dolls independent singer has demonstrated clever usage of new media tools more than once. Having previously persuaded her Twitter followers to participate in a web auction in which she sold $19,000 worth of merchandise and special once-off gigs, she ran two successful Kickstarter projects one to pay for an EP that raised over $8,000 dollars and another to pay for a US tour with her husband, the writer Neil Gaiman, which raised over $133,000.
Her latest crowdfunding project which aims to pay for a new studio album, an art book and a tour isn’t even over yet but it’s already surpassed the $100,000 target and is well over $700,000 at time of writing with a full 13 days to go. Over 9,000 people have put down money to help fund what Palmer has dubbed The Grand Theft Kickstarter Project. The incentives for funding include regular once-off vinyl mail packages, local art gallery shows in six international cities and an initiative known as The Loanspark Collective, where a fan can offer Palmer an interest-free loan that will be paid back after the album along private charity performances or art.
It’s easy to see why Palmer has had success. She has over 550,000 Twitter followers and has formed an affable relationship with them. She communicates with fans on a one to one level, no ego, just human connections being made every day. Much like Lady Gaga. As the most followed Twitter user on the planet (23 million plus), Gaga isn’t letting her major label do all the work. Along with her manager Troy Carter she has developed a social community platform called Backplane which powers her community site Littlemonsters.com which she will use to sell direct to fans and roll out to other artist communities in future.
Amanda Palmer covers Radiohead
The Dresden Dolls singer has a ukelele-based EP of Radiohead covers available with tracks Idioteque, Creep, High & Dry and No Surprises.
http://music.amandapalmer.net
Keepaway
This buzzing Brooklyn band with a keen sense for melody and atmospherics have been leaving a trail of MP3s on blogs recently, most commonly the early standout track Yellow Wings.
http://www.myspace.com/keepaway
Wild Nothing
’80s lo-fi guitar pop from Virginian Jack Tatum who released what is a perfect soundtrack to sunshine earlier this year with his album Gemini. Start with the glorious fuzzy pop of Chinatown.
http://www.myspace.com/wildnothing
Mark Ronson & the Business Intl.
The super-producer trades his trademark soul sound in for keyboards on the first proper single Bang Bang Bang from his upcoming album which features vocals from Q-Tip and MNDR.
http://bit.ly/ronson2
When news of Michael Jackson’s death filtered through by text in the pub last week, many present jumped straight onto their Twitter accounts to see if they could ascertain if it was hoax or truth (myself included). In the next hour as the news varied from unconfirmed to “alive but in a coma” and back again in a torrent of Chinese whispers, it was a salient reminder that Twitter should not be treated as a legitimate news source in any capacity.
This hasn’t stopped Twitter becoming the first port of call for many looking to announce or denounce. Last week, NME Editor Conor McNicolas resigned from his position on the micro-blogging service telling his “followers” that he is moving to become editor at Top Gear magazine while in the aftermath to a alleged assault between celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and Will.I.Am of Black Eyed Peas, both took to Twitter and videoblogs to fight their corner. Perez tweeted that he was attacked by Will.I.Am and his security guards – “I am bleeding. I need to file a police report.” He had time to tweet but not ring the police?
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