The art of asking | Amanda Palmer

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Lidija Zajec Reviewer: Nika Kotnik

(Breathes in)

(Vdih)

(Breathes out)

(Izdih)

So, I didn't always make my living from music.

Nisem se vedno preživljala z glasbo.

For about the five years after graduating

Kakšnih pet let po tem, ko sem diplomirala

from an upstanding liberal arts university,

na ugledni liberalni umetnostni univerzi,

this was my day job.

je bilo tole moje delo.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

I was a self-employed living statue called the Eight-Foot Bride,

Bila sem samozaposlena kot živ kip "Dvometrske neveste"

and I love telling people I did this for a job,

in rada pripovedujem ljudem o tem svojem delu,

because everybody always wants to know,

ker se vsi vedno sprašujejo,

who are these freaks in real life.

kdo so ti čudaki v resničnem življenju.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Hello.

Pozdravljeni.

I painted myself white one day, stood on a box,

Nekega dne sem se pobarvala na belo in se postavila na škatlo.

put a hat or a can at my feet,

Klobuk ali pločevinko sem dala k nogam

and when someone came by and dropped in money,

in ko je kdo prišel mimo in spustil nekaj denarja

I handed them a flower --

Sem mu ponudila rožo -

and some intense eye contact.

in intenzivni očesni stik.

And if they didn't take the flower,

Če niso vzeli rože,

I threw in a gesture of sadness and longing --

sem gestikulirala žalost in hrepenenje,

as they walked away.

ko so odhajali.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So I had the most profound encounters with people,

Imela sem zelo poglobljene stike z ljudmi,

especially lonely people

zlasti s tistimi osamljenimi,

who looked like they hadn't talked to anyone in weeks,

ki so izgledali tako, kot da že tedne niso z nikomer govorili.

and we would get this beautiful moment of prolonged eye contact

Zgodil se je čudovit moment podaljšanega očesnega stika,

being allowed in a city street,

ki je bil dovoljen na mestni ulici

and we would sort of fall in love a little bit.

in kar malo smo se zaljubili.

And my eyes would say --

Moje oči so rekle -

"Thank you.

"Hvala.

I see you."

Vidim te."

And their eyes would say --

In njihove oči so rekle -

"Nobody ever sees me.

"Nihče me nikoli ne vidi.

Thank you."

Hvala."

I would get harassed sometimes.

Včasih so me tudi nadlegovali.

People would yell at me from their cars.

Ljudje so kričali iz svojih avtomobilov:

"Get a job!"

"Najdi si službo!"

(Laughing) And I'd be, like,

(Smeh) In jaz sem si mislila:

"This is my job."

To je moja služba.

But it hurt, because it made me fear

Vseeno me je prizadelo, ker sem se bala,

that I was somehow doing something un-joblike

da delam nekaj "nepravega",

and unfair, shameful.

celo sramotnega.

I had no idea how perfect a real education I was getting

Nisem se zavedala, kako pomembno in pravo izobrazbo sem dobila

for the music business on this box.

na tej škatli za svojo glasbeno kariero.

And for the economists out there,

Za vse ekonomiste,

you may be interested to know I actually made a pretty predictable income,

mogoče vas bo zanimalo, da sem zaslužila prav predvidljiv prihodek,

which was shocking to me, given I had no regular customers,

kar je presenetilo tudi mene, saj nisem imela rednih strank;

but pretty much 60 bucks on a Tuesday, 90 bucks on a Friday.

nekako 60$ ob torkih in 90$ ob petkih.

It was consistent.

Dohodek je bil zanesljiv.

And meanwhile, I was touring locally and playing in nightclubs

Istočasno sem nastopala v lokalnih nočnih klubih

with my band, the Dresden Dolls.

s svojim bendom, The Dresden Dolls.

This was me on piano, a genius drummer.

Igrala sem klavir, imeli smo odličnega bobnarja.

I wrote the songs, and eventually

Pisala sem pesmi in sčasoma

we started making enough money that I could quit being a statue,

smo zaslužili dovolj denarja, da sem lahko pustila svojo službo kipa.

and as we started touring,

Ko smo začeli hoditi na turneje,

I really didn't want to lose this sense

nisem hotela izgubiti tega občutka

of direct connection with people, because I loved it.

direktnega kontakta z ljudmi, ker ga imam zares rada.

So after all of our shows, we would sign autographs

Tako smo po vsakem nastopu podpisovali avtograme,

and hug fans and hang out and talk to people,

se objemali z oboževalci, se družili in pogovarjali z ljudmi

and we made an art out of asking people to help us and join us,

in naredili umetnost iz tega, da smo ljudi prosili za pomoč in da se nam pridružijo.

and I would track down local musicians and artists

Izsledila sem lokalne glasbenike in druge umetnike

and they would set up outside of our shows,

in pojavili so se pred našimi nastopi,

and they would pass the hat,

podajali klobuk,

and then they would come in and join us onstage,

potem pa so se nam pridružili na odru.

so we had this rotating smorgasbord of weird, random circus guests.

Tako smo imeli naključno ponudbo nenavadnih cirkuških gostov.

And then Twitter came along,

Potem se je pojavil Twitter

and made things even more magic,

in stvari so postale še bolj magične,

because I could ask instantly for anything anywhere.

saj sem lahko v hipu zaprosila za karkoli kjerkoli.

So I would need a piano to practice on,

Če sem potrebovala klavir za vajo,

and an hour later I would be at a fan's house.

sem bila že uro kasneje na domu kakega oboževalca.

This is in London.

Tole je v Londonu.

People would bring home-cooked food to us

Ljudje so nam prinašali doma pripravljeno hrano

all over the world backstage and feed us and eat with us.

iz vseh koncev sveta v zaodrje, kjer smo skupaj jedli.

This is in Seattle.

Tole je v Seattlu.

Fans who worked in museums and stores

Oboževalci, ki so delali v muzejih ali trgovinah

and any kind of public space would wave their hands

ali na kakršnikoli javni površini so pomahali,

if I would decide to do a last-minute, spontaneous, free gig.

če sem se kar naenkrat odločila za spontan, brezplačen nastop.

This is a library in Auckland.

Tole je knjižnica v Aucklandu.

On Saturday I tweeted for this crate and hat,

V soboto sem čivknila za tale zabojček in klobuk,

because I did not want to schlep them from the East Coast,

ker ju nisem želela tovoriti s seboj iz vzhodne obale.

and they showed up care of this dude, Chris, from Newport Beach,

Dobila sem jih, zahvaljujoč Chrisu iz Newport Beacha,

who says hello.

ki vas pozdravlja.

I once tweeted, "Where in Melbourne can I buy a neti pot?"

Nekoč sem čivknila: "Kje lahko v Melbournu kupim neti posodico?"

And a nurse from a hospital drove one

Medicinska sestra mi jo je pripeljala

right at that moment to the cafe I was in,

ravno v tem trenutku v lokal, kjer sem bila

and I bought her a smoothie

in kupila sem ji smoothie.

and we sat there talking about nursing and death.

Sedeli sva tam in se pogovarjali o negovanju in smrti.

And I love this kind of random closeness,

Obožujem to naključno bližino,

which is lucky, because I do a lot of couchsurfing.

kar je dobro, ker veliko couchsurfam.

In mansions where everyone in my crew gets their own room

V dvorcih, kjer vsak član ekipe dobi svojo sobo,

but there's no wireless,

ampak ni wirelessa

and in punk squats,

in v pankerskem skvotu,

everyone on the floor in one room with no toilets

kjer vsi spimo na tleh v sobi brez WCja,

but with wireless, clearly making it the better option.

ampak z wirelessom, kar je očitno boljša izbira.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

My crew once pulled our van up to a really poor Miami neighborhood

Nekoč je moja ekipa prišla s kombijem v zelo revno četrt Miamija,

and we found out that our couchsurfing host for the night

kjer smo ugotovili, da je naša couchsufring gostiteljica

was an 18-year-old girl, still living at home,

osemnajstletno dekle, ki še vedno živi pri starših.

and her family were all undocumented immigrants from Honduras.

Vsi člani njene družine so bili ilegalni imigranti iz Hondurasa.

And that night, her whole family

Tisto noč je vsa njena družina

took the couches and she slept together with her mom

prespala na kavčih in ona je spala pri svoji mami,

so that we could take their beds.

da smo mi lahko spali na posteljah.

And I lay there thinking,

Ko sem ležala tam sem razmišljala:

these people have so little.

"Ti ljudje imajo tako malo.

Is this fair?

Je to pošteno?"

And in the morning,

In zjutraj

her mom taught us how to try to make tortillas

nas je njena mama učila delati tortilje

and wanted to give me a Bible,

in hotela mi je podariti Biblijo,

and she took me aside and she said to me in her broken English,

potem me je povabila na stran in mi povedala v polomljeni angleščini:

"Your music has helped my daughter so much.

"Tvoja glasba je zelo pomagala moji hčerki.

Thank you for staying here. We're all so grateful."

Hvala, da ste bili naši gostje. Zelo smo vam hvaležni."

And I thought, this is fair.

In pomislila sem: "Je pošteno".

This is this.

To je to.

A couple of months later, I was in Manhattan,

Nekaj mesecev kasneje sem bila v Manhattnu,

and I tweeted for a crash pad, and at midnight,

čivknila sem za prenočišče in ob polnoči

I'm on the Lower East Side,

sem pozvonila na Lower East Side,

and it occurs to me I've never actually done this alone.

ko sem pomislila, da tega še nikoli nisem počela sama.

I've always been with my band or my crew.

Vedno smo bili z bendom ali ekipo.

Is this what stupid people do?

Je to to, kar počnejo neumni ljudje?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Is this how stupid people die?

Ali neumni ljudje tako umrejo?

And before I can change my mind, the door busts open.

Še preden si lahko premislim, se vrata odprejo.

She's an artist.

Ona je umetnica.

He's a financial blogger for Reuters,

On je finančni bloger za Reuters.

and they're pouring me a glass of red wine

Natočijo mi kozarec rdečega vina

and offering me a bath,

in ponudijo mi kopel.

and I have had thousands of nights like that and like that.

Imela sem mnogo noči, takšnih in drugačnih.

So I couchsurf a lot. I also crowdsurf a lot.

Torej, veliko couchsurfam, veliko tudi crowdsurfam.

I maintain couchsurfing and crowdsurfing

Mislim, da sta couchsurfanje in crowdsurfanje

are basically the same thing.

v osnovi eno in isto.

You're falling into the audience

Padeš v svoje občinstvo

and you're trusting each other.

in si vzajemno zaupaš.

I once asked an opening band of mine

Nekoč sem vprašala člane naše predskupine,

if they wanted to go out into the crowd and pass the hat

če bi želeli med občinstvo s klobukom,

to get some extra money, something that I did a lot.

da bi dobili nekaj denarja, kar sem sama veliko počela.

And as usual, the band was psyched,

Kot ponavadi je bil bend navdušen,

but there was this one guy in the band

en od članov pa mi je rekel,

who told me he just couldn't bring himself to go out there.

da se ne bi mogel pripraviti do tega.

It felt too much like begging to stand there with the hat.

Zdelo se mu je, kot da bi prosjači tam s klobukom.

And I recognized his fear

Prepoznala sem ta strah.

of "Is this fair?"

Strah "Je to pošteno?"

and "Get a job."

in strah "Najdi si službo."

And meanwhile, my band is becoming bigger and bigger.

Medtem je moj bend postajal vse bolj pomemben.

We sign with a major label.

Podpisali smo pomembno pogodbo.

And our music is a cross between punk and cabaret.

Naša glasba je mešanica panka in kabareta.

It's not for everybody.

Ni za vsakogar.

Well, maybe it's for you.

No, mogoče za vas je.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

We sign, and there's all this hype leading up to our next record.

Podpisali smo in navdušeno smo se lotili nove plošče.

And it comes out and it sells about 25,000 copies

Ko je plošča izšla, se je prodalo kakih 25.000 izvodov

in the first few weeks,

v prvih nekaj tednih,

and the label considers this a failure.

založba pa je menila, da je to premalo.

I was like, "25,000, isn't that a lot?"

Vprašala sem: "25.000, ni to veliko?"

They said, "No, the sales are going down.

Oni pa: "Ne, prodaja upada.

It's a failure."

To je neuspeh."

And they walk off.

In so odšli.

Right at this same time, I'm signing and hugging after a gig,

Ravno v tem času, ko pojem in se objemam po nastopu,

and a guy comes up to me

pride do mene tip,

and hands me a $10 bill,

mi da 10 dolarski bankovec

and he says,

in reče:

"I'm sorry, I burned your CD from a friend."

"Žal mi je, vaš CD sem si zapekel od prijatelja."

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

"But I read your blog, I know you hate your label.

"Bral sem tvoj blog in vem, da ne maraš svoje založbe.

I just want you to have this money."

Zato bi ti rad dal ta denar."

And this starts happening all the time.

To se je začelo dogajati redno.

I become the hat after my own gigs,

Postala sem klobuk po svojih nastopih,

but I have to physically stand there and take the help from people,

sama sem morala stati tam in vzeti pomoč od ljudi

and unlike the guy in the opening band,

in v nasprotju s tipom iz predskupine,

I've actually had a lot of practice standing there.

sem imela veliko prakse s tem.

Thank you.

Hvala.

And this is the moment I decide

In takrat sem se odločila,

I'm just going to give away my music for free

da bom svojo glasbo ponudila zastonj.

online whenever possible,

Na spletu, kadarkoli

so it's like Metallica over here, Napster, bad;

in je Metallica tam, Napster, slabo;

Amanda Palmer over here,

Amanda Palmer tu

and I'm going to encourage torrenting, downloading, sharing,

in spodbujala bom torrente, download, deljenje,

but I'm going to ask for help,

ampak bom prosila za pomoč,

because I saw it work on the street.

ker sem na ulici videla, da deluje.

So I fought my way off my label, and for my next project

Izborila sem si prekinitev pogodbe in za naslednji projekt

with my new band, the Grand Theft Orchestra,

z novim bendom, The Grand Theft Orchestra,

I turned to crowdfunding.

sem se obrnila k crowdfundingu.

And I fell into those thousands of connections that I'd made,

Vrgla sem se med tisoče povezav, ki sem jih ustvarila

and I asked my crowd to catch me.

in prosila to množico, da me ujame.

And the goal was 100,000 dollars.

Cilj je bil, da zberemo 100.000 dolarjev.

My fans backed me at nearly 1.2 million,

Oboževalci so me podprli z 1,2 milijona,

which was the biggest music crowdfunding project to date.

kar je bil največji glasbeni crowdfunding projekt do takrat.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

And you can see how many people it is.

Vidite lahko, koliko ljudi je sodelovalo.

It's about 25,000 people.

Okoli 25.000.

And the media asked,

Mediji so me spraševali:

"Amanda, the music business is tanking and you encourage piracy.

"Amanda, glasbeni posel se potaplja ti pa spodbujaš piratstvo.

How did you make all these people pay for music?"

Kako si prisilila ljudi, da so plačali za glasbo?"

And the real answer is, I didn't make them.

Pravi odgovor je: "Nisem jih prisilila.

I asked them.

Prosila sem jih."

And through the very act of asking people,

Skozi to dejanje,

I'd connected with them,

sem se povezala z njimi.

and when you connect with them, people want to help you.

In ko se povežeš z ljudmi, ti želijo pomagati.

It's kind of counterintuitive for a lot of artists.

To se mnogim umetnikom ne zdi ravno logično.

They don't want to ask for things.

Nočejo prosit za stvari.

But it's not easy.

In tudi ni lahko.

It's not easy to ask.

Ni lahko prositi.

And a lot of artists have a problem with this.

Veliko umetnikov ima težavo s tem.

Asking makes you vulnerable.

Ko prosiš, si ranljiv.

And I got a lot of criticism online,

Bila sem deležna veliko online kritik,

after my Kickstarter went big,

ker sem, po uspehu na Kickstarterju

for continuing my crazy crowdsourcing practices,

nadaljevala s to noro prakso crowdsoursinga

specifically for asking musicians

in še posebej zato, ker sem spraševala glasbenike,

who are fans if they wanted to join us on stage

naše oboževalce, če se nam pridružijo na odru

for a few songs in exchange for love and tickets and beer,

za nekaj pesmi, v zameno za ljubezen, vstopnice in pivo

and this was a doctored image that went up of me on a website.

in takole so priredili mojo podobo in jo objavili na spletu.

And this hurt in a really familiar way.

To boli na zelo poznan način.

And people saying,

Ko ljudje rečejo:

"You're not allowed anymore to ask for that kind of help,"

"Ne smeš več prositi za tako pomoč",

really reminded me of the people in their cars yelling, "Get a job."

me spominjajo na ljudi, ki se iz svojih avtomobilov derejo: "Najdi si službo."

Because they weren't with us on the sidewalk,

Ker niso bili z nami na pločniku,

and they couldn't see the exchange

niso mogli videti izmenjave

that was happening between me and my crowd,

med menoj in mojo publiko,

an exchange that was very fair to us but alien to them.

izmenjave, ki se je nam zdela zelo poštena, njim pa je tuja.

So this is slightly not safe for work.

Tole morda ni najbolj varno početje.

This is my Kickstarter backer party in Berlin.

To je zabava za moje Kickstarter podpornike v Berlinu.

At the end of the night, I stripped and let everyone draw on me.

Na koncu noči sem se slekla in vsi so lahko risali po meni.

Now let me tell you, if you want to experience

Tole vam povem: če želite izkusiti

the visceral feeling of trusting strangers --

prvinsko občutje zaupanja tujcem --

(Laughter)

(smeh)

I recommend this,

priporočam tole,

especially if those strangers are drunk German people.

zlasti, če so ti tujci pijani Nemci.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

This was a ninja master-level fan connection,

To je bila prava "ninja-stopnja" povezave z oboževalci,

because what I was really saying here was,

kajti, kar sem zares govorila, je bilo:

I trust you this much.

"Toliko vam zaupam.

Should I?

Vam lahko?

Show me.

Pokažite mi."

For most of human history,

Večino človeške zgodovine,

musicians, artists, they've been part of the community.

so bili glasbeniki in umetniki del skupnosti.

Connectors and openers, not untouchable stars.

Bili so povezovalci in pobudniki, ne pa nedostopne zvezde.

Celebrity is about a lot of people loving you from a distance,

Slava pomeni, da te veliko ljudi obožuje iz daljave.

but the Internet

Toda internet

and the content that we're freely able to share on it

in vsebina, ki jo lahko prosto delimo tam,

are taking us back.

nas pelje nazaj.

It's about a few people loving you up close

Da te nekaj ljudi ljubi od blizu

and about those people being enough.

in da je teh nekaj ljudi dovolj.

So a lot of people are confused by the idea

Mnogo ljudi je zmedenih glede ideje

of no hard sticker price.

o drugačni prodaji.

They see it as an unpredictable risk, but the things I've done,

Zdi se jim nepredvidljiva in tvegana. Toda, vse kar sem počela:

the Kickstarter, the street, the doorbell,

Kickstarter, ulica, od vrat do vrat,

I don't see these things as risk.

tega ne vidim kot tveganje,

I see them as trust.

pač pa kot zaupanje.

Now, the online tools

Spletna orodja se približujejo temu,

to make the exchange as easy and as instinctive as the street,

da bo izmenjava postala tako lahka in instinktivna

kot je na ulici.

they're getting there.

But the perfect tools aren't going to help us

Toda tudi najodličnejša orodja nam ne bodo pomagala,

if we can't face each other

če se ne moremo soočiti en z drugim

and give and receive fearlessly,

in če ne zmoremo dajati in prejemati brez strahu.

but, more important --

In še pomembnejše:

to ask without shame.

prositi brez sramu.

My music career has been spent

Skozi svojo glasbeno kariero

trying to encounter people on the Internet the way I could on the box.

sem skušala srečevati ljudi na spletu, kot takrat, ko sem stala na škatli.

So blogging and tweeting not just about my tour dates

Blogam in čivkam ne le o datumih koncertov

and my new video but about our work and our art

in o novih videih, ampak tudi o našem delu in naši umetnosti,

and our fears and our hangovers,

o naših strahovih in naših mačkih,

our mistakes,

o naših napakah.

and we see each other.

Na ta način vidimo en drugega.

And I think when we really see each other,

In ko se zares vidimo,

we want to help each other.

si želimo pomagati.

I think people have been obsessed with the wrong question,

Mislim, da si ljudje postavljajo napačno vprašanje.

which is, "How do we make people pay for music?"

Sprašujejo se, kako prisiliti ljudi, da bodo plačali glasbo.

What if we started asking,

Kaj če bi se začeli spraševati,

"How do we let people pay for music?"

kako dopustiti ljudem plačati za glasbo?

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)