Amanda Palmer Hits Pay Dirt with Radiohead Ukulele Covers

Posted on Jul 23rd 2010 7:15AM by Chris Mugan
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Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Amanda Palmer has enjoyed a roaring success with her versions of Radiohead tunes picked out on a ukulele.

As previously reported by Spinner, the Dresden Dolls singer paid tribute to the Oxford band in more ways in one. Inspired by the release of the Radiohead album 'In Rainbows,' where fans set their own price on downloads, Palmer accepted donations for 'Amanda Palmer Plays the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele.'

While Radiohead essentially gave away their album, Palmer set a minimum price of 84 cents (54p) to cover transaction fees and the band's royalties. Now she is laughing all the way to her PayPal account, for website Bandcamp, which is hosting this release, reckons she made $15,000 (£9,700) in three minutes.

This is a coup for the San Francisco-based firm, that provides a platform for artists to sell both physical and digital music via their own pages. In the first day, Palmer sold 4,000 digital EPs, though much of the money came from deluxe packages, many of which sold out.

All her vinyl EPs cleared out, including bundles with T-shirts and badges. Also available were hand-painted ukes that went for $1,000 (£650) a pop -- including a phone call from the artist herself singing one of her covers.