The art of asking | Amanda Palmer

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Prevodilac: Marija Stepanovic Lektor: Tatjana Jevdjic

(Breathes in)

(Udahne, izdahne)

(Breathes out)

Nisam oduvek živela od muzike.

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

Ovim sam se bavila nekih pet godina,

For about the five years after graduating

nakon što sam diplomirala

from an upstanding liberal arts university,

this was my day job.

na uzornom fakultetu humanističkih umetnosti.

(Laughter)

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

Radila sam za sebe kao živi kip,

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

Nevesta od 2,5 metra i volim da pričam o tome

because everybody always wants to know,

jer svako želi da zna

who are these freaks in real life.

ko su ti čudaci u stvarnom životu?

(Laughter)

Hello.

Zdravo.

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

Ofarbala sam se jednog dana u belo, popela na kutiju,

put a hat or a can at my feet,

stavila šešir ili konzervu kraj nogu

and when someone came by and dropped in money,

i kada bi mi neko prišao i ostavio novac,

uzvratila bih cvetom i ozbiljno ga pogledala pravo u oči.

I handed them a flower --

and some intense eye contact.

A ako bi neko odbio cvet,

And if they didn't take the flower,

I threw in a gesture of sadness and longing --

ispratila bih ga izrazom punim

tuge i čežnje.

as they walked away.

(Smeh)

(Laughter)

So I had the most profound encounters with people,

Doživela sam veoma dirljive susrete sa ljudima,

especially lonely people

naročito sa usamljenim ljudima, koji su izgledali

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

kao da ni sa kim nisu progovorili nedeljama

and we would get this beautiful moment of prolonged eye contact

i u tom prelepom trenutku dozvoljenog

produženog gledanja oči u oči, na ulici u gradu,

being allowed in a city street,

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

pomalo bismo se zaljubili jedno u drugo.

And my eyes would say --

Moje oči bi rekle: "Hvala. Vidim vas."

"Thank you.

I see you."

And their eyes would say --

A njihove bi na to kazale:

"Niko me nikad ne vidi. Hvala vam."

"Nobody ever sees me.

Thank you."

Ponekad su me i maltretirali.

I would get harassed sometimes.

People would yell at me from their cars.

Doviknuli bi mi u prolazu iz automobila:

"Get a job!"

"Zaposli se!"

(Laughing) And I'd be, like,

Odgovorila bih: "Ovo je moj posao!"

"This is my job."

But it hurt, because it made me fear

Ali pogodilo bi me jer sam se bojala

that I was somehow doing something un-joblike

da je to što radim nešto nedolično,

nepravedno ili sramotno.

and unfair, shameful.

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

Nisam bila svesna da sam upravo na toj kutiji

for the music business on this box.

stekla najsavršenije obrazovanje za šoubiznis.

And for the economists out there,

Ekonomiste će možda zanimati

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

da sam zapravo imala prilično stabilna primanja,

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

što je zapanjujuće čak i za mene,

s obzirom da nisam imala stalne mušterije -

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

uglavnom 60 dolara utorkom, 90 petkom.

It was consistent.

Bilo je redovno.

And meanwhile, I was touring locally and playing in nightclubs

U međuvremenu sam išla na lokalne turneje

i nastupala po noćnim klubovima sa svojim bendom, The Dresden Dolls.

with my band, the Dresden Dolls.

Ovo sam ja za klavirom i naš genijalni bubnjar.

This was me on piano, a genius drummer.

I wrote the songs, and eventually

Pisala sam pesme i ubrzo smo počeli

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

da zarađujemo dovoljno tako da nisam više morala da budem kip.

and as we started touring,

Kad smo počeli da radimo turneje,

zaista nisam želela da izgubim to osećanje

I really didn't want to lose this sense

neposredne povezanosti sa ljudima jer sam to volela.

of direct connection with people, because I loved it.

So after all of our shows, we would sign autographs

Zato smo posle svakog nastupa ostajali da dajemo autograme,

grlimo se sa obožavaocima, družimo i razgovaramo sa ljudima.

and hug fans and hang out and talk to people,

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

Stvorili smo umetnost od traženja pomoći od ljudi.

Pronalazila sam lokalne muzičare i umetnike.

and I would track down local musicians and artists

Oni su dolazili, nastupali na ulici pre naše svirke,

and they would set up outside of our shows,

and they would pass the hat,

izneli bi šešir za prikupljanje priloga,

and then they would come in and join us onstage,

a onda bi ušli i pridružili nam se na pozornici.

Tako da smo imali jedan rotirajući švedski sto sa raznim otkačenim cirkusantima.

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

And then Twitter came along,

A onda se pojavio Tviter,

and made things even more magic,

što je još više olakšalo stvari jer sam mogla

because I could ask instantly for anything anywhere.

u bilo kom trenutku da zatražim pomoć od bilo koga.

So I would need a piano to practice on,

Recimo, bio mi je potreban klavir da vežbam; sat vremena kasnije

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

bila bih u kući nekog obožavaoca. Ovo je u Londonu.

This is in London.

Ljudi su nam donosili domaću kuvanu hranu svuda po svetu,

People would bring home-cooked food to us

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

hranili nas i jeli sa nama u bekstejdžu. Ovo je u Sijetlu.

This is in Seattle.

Obožavaoci koji rade u muzejima i marketima

Fans who worked in museums and stores

and any kind of public space would wave their hands

ili bilo kom drugom javnom mestu, dočekivali su me raširenih ruku

kada bih u poslednji čas odlučila da održim besplatnu spontanu svirku.

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

This is a library in Auckland.

Ovo je biblioteka u Oklandu.

On Saturday I tweeted for this crate and hat,

U subotu sam putem Tvitera zatražila ovu gajbu i šešir

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

jer nisam htela da ih vučem čak sa Istočne obale

i pojavili su se ovde zahvaljujući momku sa slike,

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

Krisu iz Njuport Biča, koji vas pozdravlja.

who says hello.

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

Jednom sam tvitovala, gde mogu da nađem posudu za ispiranje nosa u Melburnu?

And a nurse from a hospital drove one

Jedna medicinska sestra mi je istog trenutka donela

right at that moment to the cafe I was in,

u kafić u kome sam sedela.

and I bought her a smoothie

Zauzvrat sam je častila voćnim pireom,

and we sat there talking about nursing and death.

sedele samo i pričale o nezi bolesnika i smrti.

And I love this kind of random closeness,

Volim takav oblik spontane bliskosti,

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

što je sreća, jer se često bavim kauč-surfingom.

Po vilama gde svako iz tima dobije svoju sobu,

In mansions where everyone in my crew gets their own room

but there's no wireless,

ali nema vajerlesa ili u pank skvotovima

and in punk squats,

gde svi spavamo na podu u jednoj sobi bez toaleta,

everyone on the floor in one room with no toilets

but with wireless, clearly making it the better option.

ali imamo vajerles, što je očito bolja varijanta.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Jednom smo se dovezli kombijem

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

u vreoma siromašni kraj u Majamiju,

and we found out that our couchsurfing host for the night

gde smo otkrili da će naš domaćin te večeri

biti osamnaestogodišnjakinja, koja još uvek živi sa roditeljima,

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

and her family were all undocumented immigrants from Honduras.

a cela porodica je ilegalno imigrirala iz Hondurasa.

And that night, her whole family

Te noći, njeni ukućani su svi spavali na kaučima,

ona zajedno sa svojom mamom,

took the couches and she slept together with her mom

so that we could take their beds.

da bismo mi zauzeli njihove krevete.

Ležala sam tamo i razmišljala,

And I lay there thinking,

ovi ljudi su tako siromašni.

these people have so little.

Is this fair?

Da li je to fer?

And in the morning,

Ujutru nas je njena mama naučila kako

her mom taught us how to try to make tortillas

da pokušamo da napravimo tortilje i htela da mi da Bibliju,

and wanted to give me a Bible,

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

odvela me je na stranu i rekla mi na lošem engleskom:

"Your music has helped my daughter so much.

„Vaša muzika je mnogo pomogla mojoj ćerki.

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

Hvala vam što ste odseli ovde. Jako smo vam zahvalni.“

And I thought, this is fair.

I pomislila sam, ovo jeste fer.

To je ovo.

This is this.

A couple of months later, I was in Manhattan,

Par meseci kasnije, bila sam na Menhetnu,

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

i putem Tvitera zatražila sam prenoćište i već u ponoć

I'm on the Lower East Side,

našla sam se pred vratima na donjem Ist Sajdu.

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

I palo mi je na pamet da nikad pre toga nisam surfovala sama.

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

Uvek sam bila sa svojim bendom ili timom.

Da li ovo rade glupi ljudi? (Smeh)

Is this what stupid people do?

(Laughter)

Is this how stupid people die?

Da li ovako umiru glupi ljudi?

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

I pre nego što sam stigla da se predomislim, vrata su se širom otvorila.

Ona je umetnica, a on finansijski bloger za Rojters,

She's an artist.

He's a financial blogger for Reuters,

and they're pouring me a glass of red wine

nalili su mi čašu crnog vina

and offering me a bath,

i ponudili mi kupatilo.

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

Proživela sam na hiljade takvih i onakvih noći.

Veoma često kauč-surfujem. Dosta i kraud-surfujem, takođe.

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

Smatram da su kauč-surfing i kraud-surfing

I maintain couchsurfing and crowdsurfing

are basically the same thing.

u suštini jedno te isto.

You're falling into the audience

Zaranjaš u publiku

and you're trusting each other.

i oslanjate se jedno na drugo.

I once asked an opening band of mine

Pitala sam jednom bend koji mi je bio predgrupa

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

da li hoće da puste šešir kroz publiku

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

da zarade još koji dinar, kao što sam ja često radila.

Kao po običaju, svi iz benda su odmah pristali

And as usual, the band was psyched,

osim jednog lika,

but there was this one guy in the band

koji mi je rekao da ne može sebe da privoli na to.

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

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

Osećao bi se kao da prosjači kada bi stajao tako sa šeširom.

Prepoznala sam njegov strah od onog: "Da li je to fer?" i "Zaposli se!"

And I recognized his fear

of "Is this fair?"

and "Get a job."

U međuvremenu, moj bend je postajao sve veći i veći.

And meanwhile, my band is becoming bigger and bigger.

We sign with a major label.

Potpisali smo ugovor sa čuvenom izdavačkom kućom.

And our music is a cross between punk and cabaret.

Naša muzika je mešavina panka i kabarea.

It's not for everybody.

Nije baš za svakog.

Well, maybe it's for you.

Dobro, možda je za vas.

(Laughter)

Potpisali smo i to uzbuđenje je dovelo do našeg drugog albuma.

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

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

Album je izašao i prodao se u oko 25.000 kopija u prvih par nedelja,

in the first few weeks,

and the label considers this a failure.

a to se smatra neuspehom.

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

Pitala sam ih: "Zar 25.000 nije mnogo?"

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

Rekli su mi: "Ne, prodaja opada. To je neuspeh."

It's a failure."

And they walk off.

I napustili su nas.

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

U to isto vreme, dok sam delila autograme i zagrljaje posle svirke,

prišao mi je neki lik,

and a guy comes up to me

and hands me a $10 bill,

dao mi novčanicu od 10 dolara

and he says,

i rekao:

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

"Izvini, narezao sam vaš CD od drugara."

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

"Ali čitam vaš blog, znam da mrzite svog producenta.

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

I just want you to have this money."

Samo sam želeo da vam dam novac."

And this starts happening all the time.

To je onda počelo stalno da se dešava.

I become the hat after my own gigs,

Nakon svojih svirki, postala sam šešir,

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

morala sam da stojim i prihvatam pomoć od ljudi,

and unlike the guy in the opening band,

ali za razliku od člana naše predgrupe,

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

zapravo sam imala ogromno iskustvo u stajanju.

Hvala.

Thank you.

And this is the moment I decide

U tom trenutku sam odlučila

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

da dajem svoju muziku besplatno

online whenever possible,

preko interneta kad god mogu.

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

Dakle, ovde je Metalika, Napster, loše;

Amanda Palmer over here,

Amanda Palmer je ovamo, podsticaću ljude

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

da skidaju muziku sa torenta, da je podele sa drugima,

but I'm going to ask for help,

because I saw it work on the street.

ali zatražiću od njih pomoć jer to mi je polazilo za rukom na ulici.

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

Otarasila sam se izdavačke kuće, a za novi projekat

with my new band, the Grand Theft Orchestra,

sa svojim novim bendom, The Grand Theft Orchestra,

I turned to crowdfunding.

okrenula sam se kraud-finansiranju.

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

Zaronila sam u hiljade veza koje sam do tada ostvarila

and I asked my crowd to catch me.

i zatražila sam od publike da me prihvati.

Cilj mi je bio 100.000 dolara.

And the goal was 100,000 dollars.

My fans backed me at nearly 1.2 million,

Fanovi su me podržali sa gotovo 1,2 miliona,

which was the biggest music crowdfunding project to date.

što je najveći muzički projekat ostvaren kraud-finansiranjem do sada.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)

And you can see how many people it is.

Vidite koliko je to ljudi.

To je oko 25.000 ljudi.

It's about 25,000 people.

And the media asked,

Mediji su me upitali: „Amanda,

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

muzička industrija tone, a ti podstičeš pirateriju.

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

Kako si naterala sve ove ljude da plate muziku?“

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

Moj odgovor je bio: "Nisam ih naterala. Zamolila sam ih."

I asked them.

And through the very act of asking people,

Kroz taj čin traženja pomoći od ljudi

zbližila sam se s njima.

I'd connected with them,

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

A kada se zbližite s njima, ljudi žele da vam pomognu.

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

Mnogim izvođačima je to nelogično.

Ne žele da traže bilo šta.

They don't want to ask for things.

But it's not easy.

Mada nije lako. Nije lako tražiti.

It's not easy to ask.

And a lot of artists have a problem with this.

I mnogi umetnici imaju problema s tim.

Asking makes you vulnerable.

Traženje vas čini ranjivim.

And I got a lot of criticism online,

Dobila sam puno kritika preko interneta

after my Kickstarter went big,

nakon što se moj projekat na Kikstarteru pročuo

for continuing my crazy crowdsourcing practices,

jer se i dalje bavim šašavim kraudsorsingom,

konkretno zbog toga što pozivam muzičare

specifically for asking musicians

who are fans if they wanted to join us on stage

koji su naši fanovi da nam se pridruže na bini

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

uz par pesama u zamenu za ljubav, ulaznice i pivo.

Ovo je obrađena slika

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

koja se pojavila na jednom vebsajtu.

And this hurt in a really familiar way.

To me je zabolelo na vrlo poznat način.

And people saying,

Ljudi koji su mi govorili: "Više nemaš prava

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

da tražiš takvu vrstu pomoći",

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

podsetili su me na ljude koji su mi iz auta dobacivali: "Zaposli se!"

Jer oni nisu bili s nama na ulici,

Because they weren't with us on the sidewalk,

nisu iskusili tu razmenu

and they couldn't see the exchange

that was happening between me and my crowd,

koja se odigravala između mene i moje publike,

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

razmena koju sam smatrala da je fer, njima je bila potpuno strana.

So this is slightly not safe for work.

Ovo nije baš bezbedan posao.

Ovo je moja Kikstarter promotivna žurka u Berlinu.

This is my Kickstarter backer party in Berlin.

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

Na kraju večeri, skinula sam se i dozvolila svima da crtaju po meni.

Now let me tell you, if you want to experience

Da vam kažem, ako želite da u potpunosti osetite

the visceral feeling of trusting strangers --

kako izgleda imati poverenja u strance,

(Laughter)

preporučujem vam ovo,

I recommend this,

especially if those strangers are drunk German people.

naročito ako su ti stranci pijani Nemci.

(Laughter)

Ovo je prisnost na nivou nindža majstora

This was a ninja master-level fan connection,

jer ono što ovde zapravo govorim je:

because what I was really saying here was,

I trust you this much.

"Ovoliko vam verujem.

Should I?

Da li sam u pravu? Pokažite mi."

Show me.

For most of human history,

Većim delom ljudske istorije,

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

muzičari i umetnici su bili ljudi iz naroda,

Connectors and openers, not untouchable stars.

pristupačni i otvoreni, a ne nedostižne zvezde.

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

Slavne ličnosti se vole sa daljine,

but the Internet

ali internet i ono što preko njega

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

možemo besplatno da podelimo sa drugima

are taking us back.

nas vraćaju u prošlost.

It's about a few people loving you up close

Bolje je imati par ljudi koji vas vole izbliza,

and about those people being enough.

više vam ne treba.

So a lot of people are confused by the idea

Mnoge ljude buni to što

of no hard sticker price.

ne postoji određena cena.

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

Na to gledaju kao na nepredvidivi rizik, ali u odnosu na sve što sam proživela,

the Kickstarter, the street, the doorbell,

Kikstarter, ulicu, vrata u donjem Ist Sajdu,

I don't see these things as risk.

ništa od toga ne predstavlja rizik.

I see them as trust.

Sve to smatram za poverenje.

Now, the online tools

Internet alati čine

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

da je ta razmena laka i prirodna kao ulica,

gde i stižu.

they're getting there.

But the perfect tools aren't going to help us

Ali ni najsavršenija pomagala nam neće pomoći,

if we can't face each other

ako ne možemo da se suočimo

and give and receive fearlessly,

i dajemo i primamo bez straha

but, more important --

i što je najvažnije,

to ask without shame.

da zatražimo pomoć bez osećanja sramote.

My music career has been spent

Svoju muzičku karijeru sam provela

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

pokušavajući da ostvarim kontakt sa ljudima na internetu

onako kao nekad na kutiji.

So blogging and tweeting not just about my tour dates

Zato blogujem i tvitujem ne samo o datumima turneje

and my new video but about our work and our art

ili novom spotu, već o našem radu, umetnosti,

and our fears and our hangovers,

našim strahovima, mamurlucima, greškama

our mistakes,

and we see each other.

i tako upoznajemo jedni druge.

A kada zaista upoznamo jedni druge,

And I think when we really see each other,

we want to help each other.

želimo i da pomognemo jedni drugima.

Mislim da su ljudi dosad bili opsednuti pogrešnim pitanjem,

I think people have been obsessed with the wrong question,

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

a to je: "Kako da nateramo ljude da kupuju muziku?"

Zašto ne bismo pošli od pitanja:

What if we started asking,

"How do we let people pay for music?"

"Kako da dopustimo ljudima da kupe muziku?"

Hvala vam.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)