The Amanda Fucking Palmer Kickstarter debate
I'm a little torn on this one. I know it's a few months old, but it merits some Blab discussion, as it covers lots of things: crowd-sourcing as a concept, the 1% vs. 99% thing, ways to make the music business viable, a new paradigm for the relationship between artist and fan. If you're not up to speed, first watch this:
http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palm...OZ6-N.facebook
Then, for the other side of the story, read this and/or this.
Thoughts?
Just from glancing at the articles, she looks a proper charlatan to me.Originally Posted by Gray
This (should be) part of the bigger ephemeralization debate.
Until the populist movement wrenches the idea of the virtual, digital and technological noosphere free from the traditional scarcity/debt model, the general populace are only going to be increasingly beat over the head with it.
The libertines and the quasi-steam punk young retired like to throw around the word "post-scarcity" like it's just going to happen naturally because the essence of humanity is misread as philanthropic.
I
Wages are being driven down, people are being forced into permanent temporary labor regiments and yet google is about to come out with a pair of goggles that will allow the user To virtually modify/project alternative reality onto their interaction with the real world in real time.
I say bravo to this bohemian freak. Get yours.
Others will say "this is why we can't have nice things".
I say "there's an app for that".
Novelty must penetrate the innermost strata of all that is holy and sacred to the proletariat.
Psychedelic shamanism and television/technology is the psychedelic.
Globalization as alchemy.
Your either the alembic, the magus, the essence or the dross.
The weaponizarion of spectator sports, voyeurism as crowd sourcing.
This bitch took hipster adware to the bank. Bravo!
Last edited by Keef Riffers; 03-05-2013 at 12:02 PM.
"If God manifested Himself to us here He would do so in the form of a spray can advertised onTV." ~ PKD
Our culture is one of weaponization. This is the essence of the art of folk like duchamp, Warhol and bansky.
A pencil has but one "real" official, platonic, Ideal use but hundreds of ways in which it can be abused, weaponized.
In many ways she is a "moral entrepreneur" being the first to weaponize the altruistic concept that we all assume are woven into the fabric of things like "kickstarter", "google" or whatever.
The story of capitalism and market success is ruthlessness and efficiency. She deployed both to great effect and the rest of us are standing around in the smoke and regret.
The spirit of capitalism is the weaponization of utility. Turning tools into weapons. Making every useful thing a "savior" and every banal moment a crisis.
This is also the essence of witchcraft (corporate fascism) and sorcery (assymetrical warfare-OWS).
If you think about it, or at least squint at this notion from a distance, it's the essence of DIY and punk rock. The only difference between her and say James o'keefe is that she doesn't have kock/dark money behind her. BUT she likely will now.
I have this theory:
You ever noticed how there's all these people getting masters and PhDs in sociology type humanities fields that have nowhere to go except teach Marxism at a community college?
AND THEY GET JOBS! (we are proud of you Toby!)
You know why?
Because the study of Marxism in the liberal arts is bankrolled by the corporate headhunter/think tanks. They farm out their strategy to the misty eyed hipsters that want to "take down capitalism" when all they are doing is running data through the "marxist" algorithm churning out endless potentialities of runaway capitalism. Those "potentialities" become the impetus for boilerplate ALEC style legislation.
The proletarians worst nightmares as corporate playbook.
Just like the whitehouse inviting the "hackers of the world" for world hacktivism day.
Rope-a-DOPE! Those people would receive largesse in silicon valley to do that same work under consulting contracts for the DHS, but since they thought they were being "altruistic" for their "country", they lined up to point out the weak links in the GOV, wall street and corporate virtual infrastructure for free.
USA1!
I would say each technology has at least one such "perverse" instantiation built into it as this particular huff represents. After the first "misuse" or "inversion" it gets more complicated-or becomes the new dominant function. TV News comes to mind.
She took a potentially lethal scenario-mid 30s, going solo-and parlayed a desperate and pathetic straw grab into her second act.
It's a fucking timeless corporate model.
Last edited by Keef Riffers; 03-05-2013 at 12:18 PM.
"If God manifested Himself to us here He would do so in the form of a spray can advertised onTV." ~ PKD
I think her approach is great. She's a force for good in the world.
Yeah but you don't have to be such a cynical asshole about it.
"If God manifested Himself to us here He would do so in the form of a spray can advertised onTV." ~ PKD
No need to make it too complicated.
She's kind of a cunt. And if this were a different situation - say a food truck that said 'hey you, come cook for us for free and we'll take the profits, BTW, I'm gonna start a crowdsourced finance campaign to ensure my profitability' - I don't think there would be much of a debate here. Musicians should be paid for their work, if if it is a measly sum. Of course, she commands a pretty good sized guarantee and is doing quite well for herself.
Currently building my christian mingle profile. Check back for updates.
My point is there is a vicious circle because the traditional model of profitability for an artist is ruined. Artists make money by selling tickets or landing an apple commercial. I assume the outrage is because shes not being "traditional" to the lazy minded, or "morally entrepreneurial".
Ephemeralization-the dematerializing of matter into information, the ubiquity of technology and access to information- is at the heart of the problems now indicative to the traditional mega-label/artist profit model as well being conspicuously part of her crowd sourcing solution.
Yet her utility is viewed by some as deviance because she accomplished the DIY dream, seminal misuse of a mundane thing/concept.
Last edited by Keef Riffers; 03-05-2013 at 02:09 PM.
"If God manifested Himself to us here He would do so in the form of a spray can advertised onTV." ~ PKD
i'm all for people getting paid for their work, but i see no sense in defending the voluntarily exploited.
Is it exploitation if participation is part of the excitement and entertainment value?
What would critics say about a man doing the same thing? Would anyone think to call him the "c-word"?
Last edited by Randall; 03-05-2013 at 03:38 PM. Reason: C-word
hmm. i dunno. is it exploitation when college chicks willingly get nekkid for girls gone wild? i haven't thought too hard about it, but i lean toward believing that one can be a willing, even enthusiastic, participant in one's own exploitation. in this setup, palmer makes beaucoup bucks using unpaid labor; i don't know that the laborer's level of enjoyment factors into whether or not it's deemed exploitation, nor do i think that exploitation is a binary good/bad situation. there's a lot of gray area within the term.
i'll call a man a cunt all day if he behaves like a cunt. but i watch a fair amount of british programming, so maybe i'm desensitized. and yes, to your point, i think in this case that was just plain ol' sexist.
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