Don’t make people pay for music, says Amanda Palmer: Let them. In a passionate TED Talk that begins in her days as a street performer (drop a dollar in the hat for the Eight-Foot Bride!), she examines the new relationship between artist and fan.

A big idea that translates beyond artists to entrepreneurs (thanks to crowdfunding platforms) and all digital content providers (Andrew Sullivan is paving the path in this area). At Empower Lounge, we’ve partnered with TinyPass to testi a new concept that allows our fans and readers to directly support everything we’re doing to empower women entrepreneurs. It wasn’t a quick and easy decision or ask especially being a “content-site”.  It inspired a lot of important questions including the big one - do we deliver enough value worthy of our readers parting with their hard-earned money? It’s a good exercise to go through and helped us clarify our initiatives. There’s definitely something powerful about allowing fans to directly support your efforts - a greater accountability to build something remarkable knowing your fans have put trust in you, with their money, to deliver on the goods.

Amanda says “People are confused by how she sells with no hard sticker price. What they’re missing is that this is about trust. Online tools are making interaction easier and more effective, but, ”The most perfect tools can’t help us if we’re not willing to face each other and give and receive fearlessly. And more importantly, to ask without shame … When we really see each other, we want to help each other.”

She made international headlines this year when she raised nearly $1.2 million via Kickstarter (she’d asked for $100k) from nearly 25,000 fans who pre-ordered her new album, Theatre Is Evil. 

Now we don’t expect to raise over a million dollars with our DIY kickstarter campaign, but, if everyone with financial flexibility chipped in what they could afford - we could potentially raise $50k - $200k! These funds would have a direct impact on helping us deliver mentor programs, funding opportunities and more robust resources to you and women around the world!

It goes beyond that too — your support gives us the freedom to stay independent with no boundaries on our art or having the homepage being taken over by one big giant ad!

If it feels right and you love what we’re doing, click here