Amanda Palmer Raises New Album Kickstarter Goal in 7 Hours

Singer, songwriter, piano-slayer and blogger Amanda Palmer is preparing to release her first new studio album in four years, in conjunction with her new band, The Grand Theft Orchestra, featuring Michael McQuilken, Chad Raines and Jherek Bischoff. The album, recently recorded in Melbourne with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Murder By Death, Modest Mouse, Xiu Xiu), will also include a visual art exhibit featuring 30 visual artists who have created work inspired by the album. And true to form, the undisputed queen of fan engagement is turning to her fans for help, launching a new Kickstarter campaign that will enable her to execute the ambitious global release at levels rarely seen by independent artists.

Since parting ways with her record label four years ago, Amanda Palmer has navigated her own fiercely independent path through the music business. A long-standing blogger who routinely tweets incredibly intimate details of her life, and who maintains constant and genuine communication with her fans, Palmer has fully embraced the “pay what you want” business model to proven financial success (See Palmer’s “HowtoGetRichonTwitter” as an example of a random Friday night in Amandaland). Through it all she has built a loyal community of supporters (now over 500,000 on Twitter) that continues to grow with every piece of music she gives away (all of which is free on her website save for mechanical royalty charges) and every concert and flash-mob-style free "ninja gig" she performs.
 
Now Palmer is ready to raise the bar even higher, planning a 2-year global release of creative output that will feature a multitude of videos and remixes, 18 months of global touring, and pop-up art exhibition featuring 30 visual artists that will touch down in 6 cities in the U.S. and Europe this summer. To finance all the work that is to be done, Palmer will once again rely on Kickstarter, with a “macro-lending” add-on she’s calling Loanspark that will allow for larger contributions that surpass Kickstarter’s $10,000 maximum limit. The backer-incentives on Kickstarter range from $1 (a digital download of the album) to $10,000 (a live portrait sitting, painted by Amanda herself, including wine and dinner). Palmer’s last Kickstarter campaign, which funded the recording of a sold-out tour with author and husband Neil Gaiman, raised $133,000.

To watch the video for the most recent Amanda Palmer single – a cover of Nirvana’s "Polly" – that also served to introduce her new band, The Grand Theft Orchestra, watch below: