Does finding official band merch seem to be getting more difficult? In these times where bands have seen physical album sales plummet, they're relying more on touring and also tour merch to make their cash. Here in the US, it's common for a lot of venues to charge bands an upfront fee to sell merch at their venues. So that shirt that would cost $20 online now just went up to $45 to buy it from the booth at the show.
Another thing popping up more frequently are bootleggers who can produce merch at wholesale, then turn it around and sell it for a huge profit. T-shirts & patches primarily, but also long out of print albums, too. After all, if a band has been broken up for 10-20+ years, the bootlegger has very little fear of getting a "Cease & Desist" order or a Copyright Infringement lawsuit.
I guess the question is, how does a band protect their "brand" without looking like total sell outs? One way would be having the option of buying merch, especially tour merch, directly from the band's website.
Figured this would be a good topic for the board, so anyway... Band merch: official vs bootleg?
DISCUSS!!!
(extra points if you post pics of laughably bad quality bootleg merch)
Another thing popping up more frequently are bootleggers who can produce merch at wholesale, then turn it around and sell it for a huge profit. T-shirts & patches primarily, but also long out of print albums, too. After all, if a band has been broken up for 10-20+ years, the bootlegger has very little fear of getting a "Cease & Desist" order or a Copyright Infringement lawsuit.
I guess the question is, how does a band protect their "brand" without looking like total sell outs? One way would be having the option of buying merch, especially tour merch, directly from the band's website.
Figured this would be a good topic for the board, so anyway... Band merch: official vs bootleg?
DISCUSS!!!
(extra points if you post pics of laughably bad quality bootleg merch)
