DEBATE: Why does everyone hate Amanda Palmer now?

You know what happened, but for those that didn’t log onto Twitter yesterday, Amanda Palmer pissed off a lot of pious musicians. Basically, she asked her fans and fellow musicians to play a show with her for one night, anyone who can play a brass instrument. One show, one night, just for fun. That’s all. 

Then Steve Albini opened his mouth. The rest is history. It seemed everyone whoever played a live show before in their life and their mother went on the offensive and drilled Palmer. They hailed her for being a hypocrite after collecting $1.2 million from her much-talked-about Kickstart campaign, and not paying these volunteer musicians. So, if she was still poor and asked her friends to play with her, she wouldn’t be a hypocrite?

Palmer struck a sensitive cord for most active musicians because there’s an epidemic of underpaid performances. Breaking news: musicians don’t make a lot of money. But here’s the thing, Palmer’s request was strictly about collaborative fun, and not for the main attraction of the concert. She just thought it would be fun to get her musicians fans to get the chance to play with her as a side-attraction. It’s comparable for Jerry Rice to ask his fans to play catch in front of a charity event. Here’s what’s going untouched: brass musicians who love Amanda Palmer are going to play with her, and they don’t care.

It’s just for fun, not a Radio City Hall performance with the brass performers on center stage. Just because Palmer hit it big, doesn’t mean she’s Robin Hood all of a sudden. She won by changing the rules, and it’s time for old-school musicians to figure this out.