I know it’s been out a while but I’m finally getting round to reading Amanda Palmer’s book The Art Of Asking.  The book chronicles Amanda’s life and journey as a musician. There’s a lot of fluff about her personal life in there but there’s some really great insights as to how she built her career and more importantly how she let her fans fund her music career.

Here’s my favourite bit of the book so far which sums up how artists should operate:

“It has to start with the art. The songs had to touch people initially, and mean something, for anything to work at all. The art, not the artist, is what fundamentally draws the net into being. 

The net was then tightened and strengthened by a collection of interactions and exchanges I’ve had, personally, whether in live venues or online, with members of my community. I couldn’t outsource it. I could hire help, but not to do the fundamental things that create emotional connections: the making of the art, the feeling with other people at a human level.

That’s what I do all day on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram and and my blog.

You work hard, you play for your crowd, you talk to, communicate with, hug, and connect with them in every possible way, and in turn, they support you and convert their friends into the fold.”

Sounds familiar to the practices that I teach here right?  Create great music. Have a plan to get it out to people. Create relationships and connections with people who take an interest and then periodically extract the value that you’ve created in those relationships when you come to make stuff, put a gig on. Or they might even just reward you for being you.

That’s how it’s done.

Got any questions about this post or how you can better market yourself?

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