Comments on: Amanda Palmer brouhaha exposes the dark side of crowdsourcing

By: Barb Darrow

Barb Darrow — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 21:23:39 +0000

well put @monkey.

By: monkey

monkey — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 06:17:46 +0000

Volunteerism is for benefits and non profits. Volunteering to raise money for a food bank? Awesome, sign us all up.

Volunteering to raise money for a musician with a million bucks to spend? Pretty damn exploitative.

By: mark

mark — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 23:47:44 +0000

Lame logic, Ralph. I don’t pay to see part-timers (granted, Amanda and her band are full-timers). The Beatles were not part-timers. We need to elevate the arts by having more full-time dedicated musicians getting paid. The same can be said for other professions. Kudos to Barb for having the vision to see the big-picture similarities in many industries that are being shaken-up and de-professionalized (for the better or worse? ) by technology.

By: monkey

monkey — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:56:59 +0000

It will “expose” them to the scorn and ridicule of other musicians.

No pro musician would take them seriously after this.

By: monkey

monkey — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:56:10 +0000

So, then…
We can all make music if we already have great jobs! Whoopee!

By: monkey

monkey — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:55:05 +0000

The only thing that this would “expose” them to is the scorn of a lot of pissed-off musicians who would have liked to have been paid.

She’s asking for strings and horns – either classically trained players or jazz musicians. They won’t care a whit if someone played with Palmer, and they might hold it against them, you know, being scabs and all.

By: gljones

gljones — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 07:06:35 +0000

Yeah, spoken like someone that’s job isn’t diminished by non-professionals that think that performing for free will actually turn into a paid job. My wife makes a decent living performing and touring but you would not believe how many people think it’s OK to ask her to play for free. Would you ask a plumber to come over and fix your pipes for free? Musicians often have a lot more training, practice and student loans than a plumber. FOr some reason, people think music isn’t a real job.

By: omillais

omillais — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 18:14:35 +0000

1. Characterize volunteerism as “free labor” and soliciting volunteers as “the dark side of crowdsourcing.”
2. Include quote from pissed-off professional who feels only professionals are entitled to be offered work, and who would never work for free, even for the goodwill and promotion—bonus if uses ad hominem, politics, and how he feels “desperate” and “taken advantage of.”
3. ???
4. Profit!!

By: Barb Darrow

Barb Darrow — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:49:50 +0000

i agree that the use of “professionalish” was a mistake. There are people who play becuase they love to play, write bec they love to write — the issue is that there are still people who hope to make a living doing things that others are now willing to do for free as an avocation. tough problem. Journalists are particularly sensitive about the issue as Mathew Ingram has written.

By: Barb Darrow

Barb Darrow — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:47:10 +0000

the references to 99designs and journatic were meant to show that this trend towards outsourcing work to cheap or free workers is a trend…. all part of the same macro issue imo. thanks for your note.