Amanda Palmer raises $1 million for new music on Kickstarter

Long gone are the days where artists had to sign their lives away to a big, evil record conglomerate in order to get money to make music.

On her quest to raise dough for a new project, Amanda Palmer, formerly of The Dresden Dolls, instead went straight to the source — her fans.

Using Kickstarter, the post-modern burlesque singer was able to raise over $1 million from her cult-like followers, who in return will get everything from a deluxe copy of the CD (per $25 pledge) to dinner with the singer (two fans pledged a whopping $10,000 each).

Somewhat surprisingly, it’s the largest music-related money-raising effort in Kickstarter history and, outside of Radiohead, it’s extremely rare for an artist to enjoy that much creative independence based solely on fan loyalty.

Palmer’s already recorded the album, “Theater of Evil,” but will spend the money on the stuff that record labels usually pay for: Album packaging, videos, touring production values, and an art book to compliment the record.

Earlier this week, fans got to hear a little bit of what they’re helping to fund, as Palmer released a track online.

Listen to “Want It Back” below.

“Evil” is Palmer’s first album in four years (and her first since leaving Roadrunner Records). Her new band, The Grand Theft Orchestra, features Michael McQuilken, Chad Raines and Jherek Bischoff. “Evil” was produced by John Congleton (St. Vincent, Modest Mouse) and is due out in September.

Palmer has high hopes for the set. On her Kickstarter page, she noted, “i expect great, big, giant things to happen when this record comes out in september. the band & i will be touring it across the globe ALL YEAR.”

What do you think of the new song? How much did you donate?