Thriving fan communities happen all the time and in different ways. Look at the success of Phish. When they tour, their fans travel for weeks on end to see a block of shows and when they aren’t at the shows they are watching live updates of the setlist via websites and blogs specifically geared towards the band. Pearl Jam, NIN and Clay Aiken (they call themselves Claymates) are more great examples of vibrant fan communities fueling the band’s economy.

Amanda Palmer isn’t doing anything new by creating a community around her music; however, she is offering up a different way to communicate with her fans by creating one off experiences where access to entry is minimal (internet connection & twitter account). Cruises are great for an older audience that has more disposable income, but that wouldn’t work as well for Palmer’s younger crowd.

It all comes down to knowing your fans and finding authentic ways to engage with them and the cultivate a community.

So I think the community of fans part has been done in a variety of ways for quite awhile. I don’t think Palmer has necessarily taken that aspect to a higher level.

Artists have a limited number of hours in the day to twitter, write, promote, perform their music and are always debating how much time to put into each activity to get the greatest outcome. Amanda built a community where fans are engaging with each other even when the artist is out working on other things. Now, not only to do the fans feel connected to Amanda, they also feel connected to each other.

I don’t think it’s the only model, though. There are still bands who live off their music, performances and the related merchandise. In that model – which is the traditional model – the other stuff those artists do (interviews, appearances, social media interactions, etc.) support the artist’s ability to make music.

For me it means that the band I’m part of (www.hopeandsocial.com) and the label we set up is part of the reason that people want me, for rock schools, guitar lessons, speaking at conferences, universities etc.

I think of it like this; attention and interest is the commodity now. As for the band, it’s a part of my income, however it doesn’t pay the mortgage… It does mean that I can pay the mortgage however, and without it, I’d have a whole lot less to be interesting about. And interest is the commodity. More on this in my very own Creative Deconstruction blog soon.
Woop.
Rich
x

For singer/songwriter types, a typical progression is from:

1. Open mic nights.
2. Playing for tips.
3. Putting together a band.
4. Putting out a CD.
5. Opening for bigger acts.
6. Headlining small local clubs.
7. Doing some touring.
8. Either scraping together enough money to take the leap to do music full-time, going into debt to go full-time, or finding an investor, sponsor, or some other source to put in some money upfront.

Even for talented artists, step 8 can be a stumbling block. Many buzzworthy bands still have day jobs to pay the bills. They play SXSW and CMJ, get written about in a number of national blogs, and still don’t make enough money from music to support themselves.

I don’t know if I need to repost it here, but it covers some of the same points you’ve covered above. I can break it down in even more detail, but I will leave it at that for now.

Basically her career was built, as you say, by starting local and playing lots of shows. She’s an outstanding live performer and gains new fans whenever she plays in front of new people. So she played whenever and whereever she could. She was able to get to a point where she gets a guarantee, but she started out playing for tips.