Hello, this is Chris Anderson, and this is an archive episode of TED Talks Daily from the musician Amanda Palmer at TED 2013.

In this talk, Amanda proposes a new way to fund creativity, which gives this talk a very particular resonance today,

because we're in this fascinating moment where capitalism itself is being questioned.

Now, if you want to hear more from Amanda about the remarkable vulnerability that allows her to

sometimes literally bear herself to her fans, please listen to my conversation with her on the TED interview.

You can hear it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

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

For about the five years after graduating from an upstanding liberal arts university,

I was a self-employed living statue called the eight-foot bride,

and I love telling people I did this for a job because everybody always wants to know

who are these freaks in real life. Hello. I painted myself white one day, stood on a box,

put a hat or a can at my feet, and when

someone came by and dropped in money, I handed them a flower and some intense eye contact.

And if they didn't take the flower, I threw in a gesture of sadness and longing as they walked away.

So I had the most profound encounters with people, especially lonely people who looked like

they hadn't talked to anyone in weeks. And we would get this beautiful moment of prolonged eye contact

being allowed in a city street,

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

And my eyes would say,

thank you, I see you.

And their eyes would say, nobody ever sees me.

Thank you.

...