Musician Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls posted a new blog entry about asking for money and trying to make a living through music.

She explains:

Artists need to make money to eat and to continue to make art. Artists used to rely on middlemen to collect their money on their behalf, thereby rendering themselves innocent of cash-handling in the public eye. You've surely noticed that artists ALL over the place are reaching out directly to their fans for money.

For the last 10 years, i have been working my ass off in a different way: tirelessly making music, traveling the world, connecting with people, trying to keep my balance, almost never taking a break and, frankly, not making a fortune doing it. I still struggle to pay my rent sometimes. I'm still more or less in debt from my last record. i'll lay it all out for you in another blog. it's just math.

If you think i'm going to pass up a chance to put my hat back down in front of the collected audience on my virtual sidewalk and ask them to give their hard-earned money directly to me instead of to Roadrunner Records, Warner Music Group, Ticketmaster, and everyone else out there who's been shamelessly raping both fan and artist for years, you're crazy.

Check out the entry here.