Radio Berkman 173: The Portrait of the Self-Published Artist (Rethinking Music II)

Published: May 21, 2012, 10:37 p.m.

Big music publishers may be worried about declining CD sales and the inability of digital purchases to make up the difference. But independent artists have continued to create, innovate, connect with fans, and even make a pretty decent living on their own, without big budget promotions — or even physical copies of their albums in stores. For today’s show we were lucky to be joined by two amazing artists: Amanda Palmer sat down with David Weinberger to talk about her latest self-release, Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under, and her mission to redefine what success as a musician means. And Donald Glover chatted with us about the wonder of his quintuple threat career — star of NBC’s Community, writer, standup comic, remix artist, and rapper — his most recent release, and how he makes a living making music that is free as in beer, and free as in speech.