[ed. See also: Rockers Playing for Beer: Fair Play?]
It was a typically theatrical gesture by Ms. Palmer, a 36-year-old performer who calls her style “punk cabaret.” But it also symbolized the extent to which she has opened herself up to her fans, intimately and unconventionally, to cultivate her career.
The performance was part of a nightlong party to celebrate the nearly $1.2 million she has raised for her new album on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, with 24,883 fans making contributions ranging from $1 to download the album to $10,000 for a private dinner.
“It doesn’t feel like a windfall,” Ms. Palmer said in an interview before the party. “It feels like the accumulated reward for years and years of work.”
Ms. Palmer is one of music’s most productive users of social media, galvanizing a modest fan base — her last album sold only 36,000 copies, and she tours small clubs and theaters — through constant interaction that blurs the usual line between performer and audience. She posts just-written songs to YouTube and is a prolific correspondent on Twitter, soliciting creative feedback from her 562,000 followers and selling tens of thousands of dollars of merchandise in flash sales. That engagement has brought her rare loyalty. (...)
The $1,192,793 Ms. Palmer raised in the monthlong campaign for her album, “Theater Is Evil,” is by far the most for any music campaign on Kickstarter, where the average successful project brings in about $5,000. (...)
Despite its handmade touch, Ms. Palmer’s business is not entirely do-it-yourself. She has experienced managers and publicists behind her, and every step of her fund-raising campaign was choreographed. New songs, video teasers, photos and behind-the-scenes blog posts were spread out to stoke fan interest. As with any well-executed marketing plan, sales jumped whenever fans were goosed with new media.
by Ben Sisario, NY Times | Read more:
