March 12, 2013
aloha...
by Chris Randall
I'm going to be out of the office for a week starting on 3/14. I'll be enjoying the location pictured above in Kauai, Hawaii. (That's a picture of Tunnels, a few minutes walk from the house we rented.) This is the first real vacation (that is: no laptops, no work) that my wife and I have taken since 1996, and I plan to enjoy it by pointedly not thinking about plug-ins, synths, or Amanda Palmer's hubris.
I will be checking my email and this site occasionally via my iPad (my hypocrisy has limits, but I haven't discovered them yet) but I won't be responding to emails that aren't Audio Damage customer emergencies of some sort, so if you have something you just have to get in touch with me for and it isn't "yo, this plugz doesn't work in ProToolz!!!11!", it's going to have to wait until 3/22. You can get a hold of me via twitter, as long as you keep it pithy. If you have my phone number, don't fucking call me.
So this is an open thread. You pick the subjects. Don't break anything while I'm gone.
28 comments:
I don't get the Amanda Palmer TED thing. Was she suggesting that her success with donations was a repeatable and scalable business model? Given its foundation in a personality cult, it doesn't strike me as something that's adoptable by most others.
Well, that's alwasy been one of her problems. Or a problem for the musicians in general. It's next to impossible to repeat a business model in a business that essentially thrives on uniqueness. I mean, unless your business model is "be Jonathan Coulton" you're not going to be able to be a dude writing geeky guitar songs and going viral in cult video games, becasue that's already happened once and that ship has sailed.
I found a lot of her talk entirely disingenuous. OMG musicians should couch-surf and take people's food as donations? Because nobody has EVER done that before Amanda Palmer. Nobody's ever borrowed backline or invited their buddies onstage before either. Nor did I find her boohoo poor me shtick about the whole Beer and Hugs flap particualrly convincing - it just shows that she completely does not understand why people were pissed. It wasn't people yelling "get a job" at all.
But more to the point I think she misses one important thing: crowdsourcing is great, but you need a crowd, first. And that's where it falls down for most musicians. You want to kickstart your next album, great...but it ain't gunna work if you only have a dozen fans and nobody knows who the hell you are. Chicken/egg. And while Palmer is quick to discount her old label as being evil and greedy and dropping her for only selling 25000 copies, that's still 24000 copies that probably wouldn't've sold if she were just this street performer chick, and 24000 people who knew her name who didn't before, and it wasn't her initial outlay or resources doing the marekting, distribution and sales. She wasn't statring Amanda Palmer's Big Crowdsourcing Topless Cabaret & Ukelele Love-In Adventure from zero, unlike most people. This is not to discount the fact that it was probably still a shitton of work, but still, having that seed fanbase goes a long way.
And having that fanbase be Amanda Palmer fans doesn't hurt, either. The kind of people who would buy an empty wine bottle for $400 are the kind of people who are likley to help fund an album. THe kind of people who say "hey, look, I stole your album because it's good publicity for you" are generally not.
I found a lot of her talk entirely disingenuous. OMG musicians should couch-surf and take people's food as donations? Because nobody has EVER done that before Amanda Palmer. Nobody's ever borrowed backline or invited their buddies onstage before either. Nor did I find her boohoo poor me shtick about the whole Beer and Hugs flap particualrly convincing - it just shows that she completely does not understand why people were pissed. It wasn't people yelling "get a job" at all.
But more to the point I think she misses one important thing: crowdsourcing is great, but you need a crowd, first. And that's where it falls down for most musicians. You want to kickstart your next album, great...but it ain't gunna work if you only have a dozen fans and nobody knows who the hell you are. Chicken/egg. And while Palmer is quick to discount her old label as being evil and greedy and dropping her for only selling 25000 copies, that's still 24000 copies that probably wouldn't've sold if she were just this street performer chick, and 24000 people who knew her name who didn't before, and it wasn't her initial outlay or resources doing the marekting, distribution and sales. She wasn't statring Amanda Palmer's Big Crowdsourcing Topless Cabaret & Ukelele Love-In Adventure from zero, unlike most people. This is not to discount the fact that it was probably still a shitton of work, but still, having that seed fanbase goes a long way.
And having that fanbase be Amanda Palmer fans doesn't hurt, either. The kind of people who would buy an empty wine bottle for $400 are the kind of people who are likley to help fund an album. THe kind of people who say "hey, look, I stole your album because it's good publicity for you" are generally not.
hey reason 7 has midi out finally after 10 years of people asking for it.
link [youtu.be]
if i was a reason user i'd be excited.
link [youtu.be]
if i was a reason user i'd be excited.
I've only contributed to two Kick Starters and they were both industrial related. Mr Alin's In Radiant Decay 2012 and the Rally and Sustain documentary about Acumen Nation. I didn't even know what Kick Starter was until the time that the TWiT podcasts were talking about the Pebble watch. Didn't look into it but then I saw Mr Alin's project. I do have a friend on the other hand that goes out of his way to look for nifty projects to be a part of, I don't get it.
I know that Amanda Palmer made a lot off some Kick Starter, don't know much beyond that. Researching the matter would only dignify her pan handling while having the huge fan base that was probably acquired in part due to her opening for NIN.
Have fun on vacation Mr and Mrs Randall, make the most of it. If I were you, I'd reserve the iPad for maybe 30 minutes towards the end of the day. Get yer toes in the sand and soak up some sun.
I know that Amanda Palmer made a lot off some Kick Starter, don't know much beyond that. Researching the matter would only dignify her pan handling while having the huge fan base that was probably acquired in part due to her opening for NIN.
Have fun on vacation Mr and Mrs Randall, make the most of it. If I were you, I'd reserve the iPad for maybe 30 minutes towards the end of the day. Get yer toes in the sand and soak up some sun.
Of course Propellerhead would integrate Recycle with Reason right when I finally break down and buy it...
@nulldevice: I don't know how closely the TED crowd follows the entertainment industry. The stuff that is obvious to any musician, or to fans of the more obscure musics, might be totally lost on the Silicon Valley crowd. "Couchsurfing" seems to have been replaced by "sleeping at the office," so these terms might have needed explaining.
I suppose watching the Amanda Palmer TED talk would put things into context, but I'm not gonna do that. So if I'm wrong on the above, I'll gladly concede this, as long as it means I don't have to watch the TED talk.
Chris, I hope you and Elle have a fantastic time in Kauai! You deserve the vacation.
I suppose watching the Amanda Palmer TED talk would put things into context, but I'm not gonna do that. So if I'm wrong on the above, I'll gladly concede this, as long as it means I don't have to watch the TED talk.
Chris, I hope you and Elle have a fantastic time in Kauai! You deserve the vacation.
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