Amanda Palmer Talks Kickstarter Fiasco And New Memoir, 'The Art of Asking'

Amanda Palmer is the most successful crowdfunding musician in the world.

She raised $1.2 million from 24,883 Kickstarter backers in 2012, and was the talk of the site and its future in the music business. But the pendulum swung the other way when she asked musicians to perform on her tour for free — many people were rubbed the wrong way, and the fallout resulted in Palmer's new memoir, The Art of Asking.

"That event was the fuel I needed to write this book," Palmer told Billboard. "As painful as it was, I was hoping maybe if someone doesn't get this, I can make them understand that [life] isn't just about money and it isn't just about success and it isn't just about who's f---ing coming into first place."

The former Dresden Dolls singer is adamant that she never took advantage of her fans, and never will.

"I would say that to run a business like this costs money and it needs to come from somewhere and hopefully it comes from people paying for the art that I'm spending money to create and distribute," she said. "To see people feel anger about this is just silly. No one gets angry at Apple for our iPhones. We just have very strange and romantic notions about art and how it should and shouldn't have value. Now with the curtain pulled back, and the system being exposed, there's a lot of skittishness. I'd much rather face these things head on than pretend there some magic going on that there isn't."

She also discussed what it takes for her to be satisfied with her own art.

"I have my own set of standards of what I need to be happy and I have listened to my fans for 15 years," she said. "If that means hiring my own staff or working with an office of people to get things where they need to be, the infrastructure isn't as important as the art. The art has to come first. Like many musicians, I enjoy the freedom to constantly experiment. One thing I love is that I can try different systems every cycle. I don't feel like I'm sitting in an office wondering what would work. The nature of the collision of art and technology is to give birth to things that no one has done before."

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