0:00:10.101,0:00:11.623
(Breathes in)

0:00:12.384,0:00:13.384
(Breathes out)

0:00:18.014,0:00:20.959
So, I didn't always make[br]my living from music.

0:00:21.863,0:00:23.863
For about the five years after graduating

0:00:23.887,0:00:26.992
from an upstanding[br]liberal arts university,

0:00:27.016,0:00:29.354
this was my day job.

0:00:29.871,0:00:31.079
(Laughter)

0:00:31.103,0:00:35.647
I was a self-employed living[br]statue called the Eight-Foot Bride,

0:00:35.671,0:00:39.387
and I love telling people[br]I did this for a job,

0:00:39.411,0:00:41.372
because everybody always wants to know,

0:00:41.396,0:00:43.351
who are these freaks in real life.

0:00:43.375,0:00:44.376
(Laughter)

0:00:44.400,0:00:45.415
Hello.

0:00:45.892,0:00:49.047
I painted myself white[br]one day, stood on a box,

0:00:49.071,0:00:51.455
put a hat or a can at my feet,

0:00:51.479,0:00:53.806
and when someone came by[br]and dropped in money,

0:00:53.830,0:00:56.491
I handed them a flower --

0:00:57.911,0:01:00.545
and some intense eye contact.

0:01:01.987,0:01:03.687
And if they didn't take the flower,

0:01:03.711,0:01:06.781
I threw in a gesture[br]of sadness and longing --

0:01:07.757,0:01:09.242
as they walked away.

0:01:11.941,0:01:13.372
(Laughter)

0:01:15.645,0:01:19.611
So I had the most profound[br]encounters with people,

0:01:19.635,0:01:20.946
especially lonely people

0:01:20.970,0:01:24.295
who looked like they hadn't talked[br]to anyone in weeks,

0:01:24.319,0:01:30.288
and we would get this beautiful moment[br]of prolonged eye contact

0:01:30.312,0:01:32.605
being allowed in a city street,

0:01:32.629,0:01:35.250
and we would sort of fall[br]in love a little bit.

0:01:35.941,0:01:37.560
And my eyes would say --

0:01:38.433,0:01:39.433
"Thank you.

0:01:40.028,0:01:41.028
I see you."

0:01:41.925,0:01:43.280
And their eyes would say --

0:01:45.329,0:01:46.828
"Nobody ever sees me.

0:01:47.901,0:01:48.901
Thank you."

0:01:50.908,0:01:52.393
I would get harassed sometimes.

0:01:52.417,0:01:54.481
People would yell at me from their cars.

0:01:54.505,0:01:55.567
"Get a job!"

0:01:56.147,0:01:58.187
(Laughing) And I'd be, like,

0:01:58.211,0:01:59.344
"This is my job."

0:02:00.041,0:02:03.750
But it hurt, because it made me fear

0:02:03.774,0:02:08.008
that I was somehow doing[br]something un-joblike

0:02:08.032,0:02:09.940
and unfair, shameful.

0:02:11.146,0:02:15.995
I had no idea how perfect[br]a real education I was getting

0:02:16.019,0:02:18.131
for the music business on this box.

0:02:18.755,0:02:20.327
And for the economists out there,

0:02:20.351,0:02:23.932
you may be interested to know I actually[br]made a pretty predictable income,

0:02:23.956,0:02:28.147
which was shocking to me,[br]given I had no regular customers,

0:02:28.171,0:02:31.435
but pretty much 60 bucks on a Tuesday,[br]90 bucks on a Friday.

0:02:31.459,0:02:32.720
It was consistent.

0:02:32.744,0:02:36.204
And meanwhile, I was touring locally[br]and playing in nightclubs

0:02:36.228,0:02:38.066
with my band, the Dresden Dolls.

0:02:38.090,0:02:40.164
This was me on piano, a genius drummer.

0:02:40.188,0:02:42.077
I wrote the songs, and eventually

0:02:42.101,0:02:46.463
we started making enough money[br]that I could quit being a statue,

0:02:46.487,0:02:48.724
and as we started touring,

0:02:48.748,0:02:51.098
I really didn't want to lose this sense

0:02:51.122,0:02:53.798
of direct connection with people,[br]because I loved it.

0:02:53.822,0:02:57.753
So after all of our shows,[br]we would sign autographs

0:02:57.777,0:03:00.665
and hug fans and hang out[br]and talk to people,

0:03:00.689,0:03:06.357
and we made an art out[br]of asking people to help us and join us,

0:03:06.381,0:03:09.503
and I would track down[br]local musicians and artists

0:03:09.527,0:03:12.695
and they would set up[br]outside of our shows,

0:03:12.719,0:03:14.183
and they would pass the hat,

0:03:14.207,0:03:16.683
and then they would come in[br]and join us onstage,

0:03:16.707,0:03:20.092
so we had this rotating smorgasbord[br]of weird, random circus guests.

0:03:20.715,0:03:23.196
And then Twitter came along,

0:03:23.220,0:03:25.252
and made things even more magic,

0:03:25.276,0:03:28.011
because I could ask instantly[br]for anything anywhere.

0:03:28.035,0:03:30.076
So I would need a piano to practice on,

0:03:30.100,0:03:32.369
and an hour later I would be[br]at a fan's house.

0:03:32.393,0:03:33.430
This is in London.

0:03:33.834,0:03:35.914
People would bring home-cooked food to us

0:03:35.938,0:03:38.653
all over the world backstage[br]and feed us and eat with us.

0:03:38.677,0:03:40.059
This is in Seattle.

0:03:40.083,0:03:43.686
Fans who worked in museums and stores

0:03:43.710,0:03:46.893
and any kind of public space[br]would wave their hands

0:03:46.917,0:03:50.157
if I would decide to do[br]a last-minute, spontaneous, free gig.

0:03:50.181,0:03:52.793
This is a library in Auckland.

0:03:53.604,0:03:58.057
On Saturday I tweeted[br]for this crate and hat,

0:03:58.081,0:04:00.840
because I did not want to schlep them[br]from the East Coast,

0:04:00.864,0:04:03.887
and they showed up care of this dude,[br]Chris, from Newport Beach,

0:04:03.911,0:04:05.042
who says hello.

0:04:05.644,0:04:09.326
I once tweeted, "Where in Melbourne[br]can I buy a neti pot?"

0:04:09.350,0:04:11.856
And a nurse from a hospital drove one

0:04:11.880,0:04:14.127
right at that moment to the cafe I was in,

0:04:14.151,0:04:15.595
and I bought her a smoothie

0:04:15.619,0:04:18.159
and we sat there talking[br]about nursing and death.

0:04:18.183,0:04:21.214
And I love this kind of random closeness,

0:04:21.238,0:04:24.595
which is lucky, because I do[br]a lot of couchsurfing.

0:04:25.928,0:04:29.018
In mansions where everyone[br]in my crew gets their own room

0:04:29.042,0:04:30.295
but there's no wireless,

0:04:30.319,0:04:31.851
and in punk squats,

0:04:31.875,0:04:34.813
everyone on the floor[br]in one room with no toilets

0:04:34.837,0:04:37.832
but with wireless,[br]clearly making it the better option.

0:04:38.654,0:04:40.412
(Laughter)

0:04:40.999,0:04:47.065
My crew once pulled our van[br]up to a really poor Miami neighborhood

0:04:47.089,0:04:49.771
and we found out that our couchsurfing[br]host for the night

0:04:49.795,0:04:52.358
was an 18-year-old girl,[br]still living at home,

0:04:52.382,0:04:56.485
and her family were all undocumented[br]immigrants from Honduras.

0:04:57.006,0:05:00.382
And that night, her whole family

0:05:00.406,0:05:03.459
took the couches and she slept[br]together with her mom

0:05:03.483,0:05:05.213
so that we could take their beds.

0:05:06.038,0:05:08.855
And I lay there thinking,

0:05:08.879,0:05:10.578
these people have so little.

0:05:11.673,0:05:12.879
Is this fair?

0:05:13.773,0:05:15.086
And in the morning,

0:05:15.110,0:05:17.433
her mom taught us[br]how to try to make tortillas

0:05:17.457,0:05:19.434
and wanted to give me a Bible,

0:05:19.458,0:05:25.027
and she took me aside and she said[br]to me in her broken English,

0:05:25.051,0:05:29.505
"Your music has helped[br]my daughter so much.

0:05:30.584,0:05:33.220
Thank you for staying here.[br]We're all so grateful."

0:05:33.894,0:05:37.448
And I thought, this is fair.

0:05:38.178,0:05:40.307
This is this.

0:05:41.305,0:05:44.225
A couple of months later,[br]I was in Manhattan,

0:05:44.249,0:05:46.513
and I tweeted for a crash pad,[br]and at midnight,

0:05:46.537,0:05:48.315
I'm on the Lower East Side,

0:05:48.339,0:05:51.108
and it occurs to me I've never[br]actually done this alone.

0:05:51.132,0:05:53.085
I've always been with my band or my crew.

0:05:53.109,0:05:54.947
Is this what stupid people do?

0:05:55.414,0:05:56.414
(Laughter)

0:05:56.945,0:05:58.881
Is this how stupid people die?

0:05:59.344,0:06:01.869
And before I can change my mind,[br]the door busts open.

0:06:01.893,0:06:02.924
She's an artist.

0:06:02.948,0:06:05.268
He's a financial blogger for Reuters,

0:06:05.292,0:06:07.306
and they're pouring me a glass of red wine

0:06:07.330,0:06:08.477
and offering me a bath,

0:06:08.501,0:06:12.834
and I have had thousands of nights[br]like that and like that.

0:06:13.810,0:06:17.457
So I couchsurf a lot.[br]I also crowdsurf a lot.

0:06:17.848,0:06:20.785
I maintain couchsurfing and crowdsurfing

0:06:20.809,0:06:22.719
are basically the same thing.

0:06:23.057,0:06:25.538
You're falling into the audience

0:06:25.562,0:06:27.078
and you're trusting each other.

0:06:27.429,0:06:29.693
I once asked an opening band of mine

0:06:29.717,0:06:32.384
if they wanted to go out[br]into the crowd and pass the hat

0:06:32.408,0:06:35.098
to get some extra money,[br]something that I did a lot.

0:06:35.122,0:06:36.910
And as usual, the band was psyched,

0:06:36.934,0:06:39.108
but there was this one guy in the band

0:06:39.132,0:06:42.990
who told me he just couldn't[br]bring himself to go out there.

0:06:43.014,0:06:46.704
It felt too much like begging[br]to stand there with the hat.

0:06:47.208,0:06:50.828
And I recognized his fear

0:06:50.852,0:06:52.941
of "Is this fair?"

0:06:52.965,0:06:54.303
and "Get a job."

0:06:55.756,0:06:58.832
And meanwhile, my band[br]is becoming bigger and bigger.

0:06:58.856,0:07:00.385
We sign with a major label.

0:07:01.011,0:07:03.925
And our music is a cross[br]between punk and cabaret.

0:07:03.949,0:07:05.331
It's not for everybody.

0:07:05.355,0:07:07.782
Well, maybe it's for you.

0:07:07.806,0:07:09.890
(Laughter)

0:07:09.914,0:07:13.710
We sign, and there's all this hype[br]leading up to our next record.

0:07:13.734,0:07:17.403
And it comes out and it sells[br]about 25,000 copies

0:07:17.427,0:07:18.716
in the first few weeks,

0:07:18.740,0:07:21.620
and the label considers this a failure.

0:07:22.708,0:07:24.597
I was like, "25,000, isn't that a lot?"

0:07:24.621,0:07:26.589
They said, "No, the sales are going down.

0:07:26.613,0:07:27.629
It's a failure."

0:07:27.653,0:07:28.668
And they walk off.

0:07:29.578,0:07:32.938
Right at this same time,[br]I'm signing and hugging after a gig,

0:07:32.962,0:07:34.729
and a guy comes up to me

0:07:34.753,0:07:36.931
and hands me a $10 bill,

0:07:36.955,0:07:38.612
and he says,

0:07:38.636,0:07:41.016
"I'm sorry, I burned[br]your CD from a friend."

0:07:41.478,0:07:45.361
(Laughter)

0:07:46.319,0:07:48.827
"But I read your blog,[br]I know you hate your label.

0:07:48.851,0:07:50.634
I just want you to have this money."

0:07:51.731,0:07:54.670
And this starts happening all the time.

0:07:55.225,0:07:58.666
I become the hat after my own gigs,

0:07:58.690,0:08:01.952
but I have to physically stand there[br]and take the help from people,

0:08:01.976,0:08:04.161
and unlike the guy in the opening band,

0:08:04.185,0:08:06.979
I've actually had a lot[br]of practice standing there.

0:08:08.773,0:08:09.852
Thank you.

0:08:10.331,0:08:12.458
And this is the moment I decide

0:08:12.482,0:08:15.350
I'm just going to give away[br]my music for free

0:08:15.374,0:08:17.082
online whenever possible,

0:08:17.106,0:08:20.568
so it's like Metallica[br]over here, Napster, bad;

0:08:20.592,0:08:22.258
Amanda Palmer over here,

0:08:22.282,0:08:25.557
and I'm going to encourage[br]torrenting, downloading, sharing,

0:08:25.581,0:08:27.679
but I'm going to ask for help,

0:08:27.703,0:08:30.406
because I saw it work on the street.

0:08:30.999,0:08:33.903
So I fought my way off my label,[br]and for my next project

0:08:33.927,0:08:36.607
with my new band,[br]the Grand Theft Orchestra,

0:08:36.631,0:08:38.341
I turned to crowdfunding.

0:08:39.359,0:08:43.503
And I fell into those thousands[br]of connections that I'd made,

0:08:43.527,0:08:45.634
and I asked my crowd to catch me.

0:08:46.792,0:08:49.634
And the goal was 100,000 dollars.

0:08:49.658,0:08:53.173
My fans backed me at nearly 1.2 million,

0:08:53.197,0:08:56.079
which was the biggest music[br]crowdfunding project to date.

0:08:56.103,0:09:00.167
(Applause)

0:09:00.191,0:09:03.517
And you can see how many people it is.

0:09:04.858,0:09:06.350
It's about 25,000 people.

0:09:08.239,0:09:09.709
And the media asked,

0:09:09.733,0:09:13.187
"Amanda, the music business is tanking[br]and you encourage piracy.

0:09:13.211,0:09:15.545
How did you make[br]all these people pay for music?"

0:09:15.569,0:09:17.930
And the real answer is,[br]I didn't make them.

0:09:18.398,0:09:19.398
I asked them.

0:09:20.258,0:09:24.096
And through the very act of asking people,

0:09:24.120,0:09:25.812
I'd connected with them,

0:09:25.836,0:09:29.686
and when you connect with them,[br]people want to help you.

0:09:30.995,0:09:34.741
It's kind of counterintuitive[br]for a lot of artists.

0:09:34.765,0:09:36.431
They don't want to ask for things.

0:09:36.455,0:09:40.108
But it's not easy.

0:09:40.132,0:09:41.599
It's not easy to ask.

0:09:42.116,0:09:44.298
And a lot of artists have[br]a problem with this.

0:09:44.322,0:09:46.021
Asking makes you vulnerable.

0:09:46.613,0:09:51.137
And I got a lot of criticism online,

0:09:51.161,0:09:52.758
after my Kickstarter went big,

0:09:52.782,0:09:55.717
for continuing my crazy[br]crowdsourcing practices,

0:09:55.741,0:09:58.598
specifically for asking musicians

0:09:58.622,0:10:00.971
who are fans if they wanted[br]to join us on stage

0:10:00.995,0:10:05.286
for a few songs in exchange[br]for love and tickets and beer,

0:10:05.310,0:10:09.810
and this was a doctored image[br]that went up of me on a website.

0:10:10.342,0:10:13.225
And this hurt in a really familiar way.

0:10:13.956,0:10:15.658
And people saying,

0:10:15.682,0:10:18.711
"You're not allowed anymore[br]to ask for that kind of help,"

0:10:18.735,0:10:22.931
really reminded me of the people[br]in their cars yelling, "Get a job."

0:10:23.849,0:10:27.952
Because they weren't[br]with us on the sidewalk,

0:10:27.976,0:10:31.209
and they couldn't see the exchange

0:10:31.233,0:10:33.281
that was happening[br]between me and my crowd,

0:10:33.305,0:10:37.638
an exchange that was very fair[br]to us but alien to them.

0:10:38.948,0:10:40.971
So this is slightly not safe for work.

0:10:40.995,0:10:43.558
This is my Kickstarter[br]backer party in Berlin.

0:10:43.582,0:10:46.615
At the end of the night, I stripped[br]and let everyone draw on me.

0:10:46.639,0:10:49.632
Now let me tell you,[br]if you want to experience

0:10:49.656,0:10:52.127
the visceral feeling[br]of trusting strangers --

0:10:52.151,0:10:53.598
(Laughter)

0:10:53.622,0:10:54.813
I recommend this,

0:10:54.837,0:10:58.180
especially if those strangers[br]are drunk German people.

0:10:58.204,0:11:00.115
(Laughter)

0:11:00.139,0:11:03.959
This was a ninja[br]master-level fan connection,

0:11:03.983,0:11:06.479
because what I was really saying here was,

0:11:06.503,0:11:08.047
I trust you this much.

0:11:09.095,0:11:10.216
Should I?

0:11:10.984,0:11:11.984
Show me.

0:11:13.223,0:11:15.235
For most of human history,

0:11:15.259,0:11:19.314
musicians, artists, they've been[br]part of the community.

0:11:20.617,0:11:24.260
Connectors and openers,[br]not untouchable stars.

0:11:24.834,0:11:29.152
Celebrity is about a lot of people[br]loving you from a distance,

0:11:29.176,0:11:30.321
but the Internet

0:11:30.345,0:11:33.946
and the content that we're freely[br]able to share on it

0:11:33.970,0:11:36.247
are taking us back.

0:11:36.744,0:11:40.428
It's about a few people[br]loving you up close

0:11:40.452,0:11:43.702
and about those people being enough.

0:11:45.003,0:11:47.130
So a lot of people[br]are confused by the idea

0:11:47.154,0:11:48.445
of no hard sticker price.

0:11:48.469,0:11:51.667
They see it as an unpredictable risk,[br]but the things I've done,

0:11:51.691,0:11:54.079
the Kickstarter, the street, the doorbell,

0:11:54.103,0:11:55.933
I don't see these things as risk.

0:11:55.957,0:11:57.257
I see them as trust.

0:11:58.075,0:12:00.069
Now, the online tools

0:12:00.093,0:12:04.841
to make the exchange as easy[br]and as instinctive as the street,

0:12:04.865,0:12:06.063
they're getting there.

0:12:06.603,0:12:10.178
But the perfect tools[br]aren't going to help us

0:12:10.202,0:12:12.646
if we can't face each other

0:12:12.670,0:12:15.705
and give and receive fearlessly,

0:12:15.729,0:12:16.928
but, more important --

0:12:18.631,0:12:21.113
to ask without shame.

0:12:21.965,0:12:24.576
My music career has been spent

0:12:24.600,0:12:29.149
trying to encounter people on the Internet[br]the way I could on the box.

0:12:30.003,0:12:33.491
So blogging and tweeting[br]not just about my tour dates

0:12:33.515,0:12:37.082
and my new video[br]but about our work and our art

0:12:37.106,0:12:40.223
and our fears and our hangovers,

0:12:40.247,0:12:41.665
our mistakes,

0:12:41.689,0:12:43.150
and we see each other.

0:12:43.940,0:12:47.534
And I think when we really see each other,

0:12:47.558,0:12:49.414
we want to help each other.

0:12:51.763,0:12:54.902
I think people have been obsessed[br]with the wrong question,

0:12:54.926,0:12:57.814
which is, "How do we make[br]people pay for music?"

0:12:58.822,0:13:01.626
What if we started asking,

0:13:01.650,0:13:03.664
"How do we let people pay for music?"

0:13:06.532,0:13:07.676
Thank you.

0:13:07.700,0:13:12.700
(Applause)