UPDATE, 2:37pm: Amanda Palmer dishes on Kickstarter success
Yesterday, AMANDA PALMER walked into her record label headquarters, and demanded an advance of around $100,000 for a new record, a tour, an art book, and a bunch of other cool shit she wanted to accomplish and/or release by the end of 2012.
The record label happily agreed, and after about eight hours of deliberation gave her the hundred grand. Then after a day of thinking about all the awesome stuff Palmer wanted to do, they decided to kick over a cool quarter of a million dollars, giving the one-time Dresden Doll the funding to do whatever she wants.
That pretty much all actually happened, except for the part about the record label. Because Palmer has no record label after being released from her contract with Roadrunner two years ago.
Instead, yesterday, Palmer took to Kickstarter, on her birthday, and leaned on her fans, blowing past her initial $100,000 goal IN SEVEN HOURS.
She is now up to $257,791 from 5,011 backers -- as of post time, 12:04 pm Tuesday.
$257,791.
In one day.
With 30 days to go in her campaign.
Palmer wrote on her Kickstarter page:
“since i'm now without a giant label to front the gazillions of dollars that it always takes to manufacture and promote a record this big, i'm coming to you to gather funds so that i have the capital to put it out with a huge fucking bang. i think kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms like this are the BEST way to put out music right now - no label, no rules, no fuss, no muss. just us, the music, and the art. i'm also making sure EVERY PRODUCT sold through this kickstarter is unique to this campaign, to reward all of you who KNEW ME WHEN and were willing to support me from Day One.”
A simple donation of $1 gets a supporter a digital download of the new album, recorded with her new band, the Grand Theft Orchestra and produced by Grammy-winner John Congleton (the Walkmen, Modest Mouse, Explosions In The Sky). It is due in September.
Pledges of $25 or more get a physical CD, with comes with a digital download and a thank you code. Chip in $50 and get some vinyl.
But Palmer is one of the more creative forces in music today, so the big bucks bring in some big treats. Seven backers have already pledged $5,000 or more, earning each a house party “with a uke-wielding AFP,” scheduled sometime in the next 18 months. A bunch of other stuff is also included, mainly the gifts from small donations combined into one package.
For $10,000 or more – and someone is already in on this – Palmer will host an “art-sitting and dinner.” She writes: “If you’re not the party type and just want to do something quiet & one-on-one, i’d like to paint/render you on big canvas format over the course of an afternoon/evening. we’ll get together in a space that makes sense & i’ll draw you from life, naked or clothed” Another $10,000 perk is a photo shoot with the Grand Theft Orchestra crew in the donator’s home, with the backer taking part in the photos and fun times.
Pretty cool.
In additional to all this, Palmer’s 12-date US and European tour is a combination of live performances (six in total) and public art exhibits, and both hit the Middle East in Cambridge in early August. Here are the full dates, with uhhh, house and dinner parties and fan photo
shoots not yet included in the itinerary:
June 12: The Factory, Berlin, Germany (art)
June 14: Roter Salon, Berlin, Germany (live)
June 18: Village Underground, London, England (art)
June 20: Village Underground, London, England (live)
June 27: Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York (live)
June 28: Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York (art)
July 12: Public Works, San Francisco, California (art)
July 13: Public Works, San Francisco, California (live)
July 18: The Roxy, Los Angeles, California (live)
July 19: Pop Tart Gallery, Los Angeles, California (art)
August 1: The Middle East, Boston, Massachusetts (art)
August 2: The Middle East, Boston, Massachusetts (live)
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