Hacker News Reader

Comment by replicatorblog | Hacker News Reader

I know this sounds like a spam post, but it is the story of Dresden Dolls front woman, Amanda Palmer, using twitter in some creative ways to generate business. Actually filled with useful ideas that could apply to many other businesses, especially in the service market.

View on HN

The title makes it sound like it was a 'nobody' suddenly using the 'net to strike gold - Amanda Palmer has a veritable army of uncommonly loyal fans, fans who would certainly pay far more than $25 for impromptu hand-designed T-Shirts from her, whatever the medium through which they were advertised. This story is, for anyone without such a fanbase, worthless.

And 'indie musician'? The text itself (that was copied wholesale from the artist with little/no value added) references a "huge-ass ben-folds produced-major-label solo album"! Stupid stupid linkbait. That said, it is a fantastic record and it's a shame to see she's not made any money from it as yet.

Exactly. I'd never play down the countless hours of work it takes to make a living from the music business - but doesn't being connected with a major label imply that you're no longer "indie?"

So all you need is 10 hours, Twitter and a massive army of super-dedicated fans (340,000 listeners on last.fm alone)

Disclosure: I work for an independent record label.

fans who would certainly pay far more than $25 for impromptu hand-designed T-Shirts from her, whatever the medium through which they were advertised

While I agree that her fans love her, I suspect the immediacy of the medium made a big difference. If she'd advertised in the newspaper, ⓐ most of the fans never would have seen it and ⓑ those who did would mostly think, "Oh, maybe I'll order a shirt the next time I'm online."

Great point, I'm sure all the mid level bands that have shirts languishing on Zazzle or CafePress would love to have those kind of sales figures. Having a huge fan base helps, but this is a new kind of experience that isn't possible via web,RSS, or other channels as currently offered.

Likewise, here story about a coffee shop which uses Twitter place to go orders.

http://blog.mrtweet.net/twitter-to-go-how-one-local-coffee-s...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com