Logan Smith - The Art of Asking

In Amanda Palmer’s TED talk, I was skeptical. When I first saw her eyebrows, honestly, I was like, what in the world is she going to talk about? I expected a step by step process on the language to use, or how we should emphasize certain aspects of what we are asking for, but no. Oh boy was I wrong! She was profound. She was likeable. She knew what she was talking about. I loved seeing the connection from someone who stands on the streets making a living by standing on a box to a musician who loves what she does and needs support to keep doing that. It was genius almost to emphasize that correlation, because it changed my mind about street performers. When I went to New Orleans over Spring Break, I didn’t expect to see as many different people painting and singing and playing instruments and fortune telling and magicians as I did. However, all of them were impeccably good at what they did, just like Amanda Palmer. It became her norm to ask people for things – but instead of coming across as someone who was just mooching, she shared herself, which is just as valuable – if not more – than letting someone crash on your couch or floor. As for the music issue, I think it’s cool that people would come up to her and give her money for her music after they’ve already listened to it and made the CD. It takes someone who is very transparent and connected with their audience to get that kind of respect, especially in the world we live in today. I know good and well if someone came up to Taylor Swift and tried to do that, she would refuse the ten dollars. Granted, Amanda Palmer isn’t Taylor Swift, however the idea of letting people pay for music rather than forcing them into it is really a beautiful idea – especially when you want to emphasize one of Amanda’s points: musicians used to just be regular people who lived among the crowd, not ostracized celebrities.  There is a website called NoiseTrade, where artists can post free EPs or full-length albums or samplers. You can download the albums for free, but you can also leave ‘tips’ for the artist. It’s super cool to see that implemented in more ways than just Amanda Palmer!