Guide for new Bands: Merchandise

Something I've been seeing a lot lately with new bands is this 'Do or die' mentality, where they think that just making the music will get them rich. 15 years ago, and I'd totally agree, but in this day and age, where music can be pulled from the internet in an instant, and CDs sell for less than a CD player, money, especially for new bands, has to come from somewhere else. Merchandise is just one option.

To get started, lets make something very very clear; in order to make money, you have to spend money. The first time you spend money on your own band merchandise, it will set you back a few hundred dollars. You can either take out a loan to pay for it, or just save your pennies and pay for it yourself. The first time you do order it, youll most likely buy a low amount, and I encourage being a little conservative the first time around, who knows how much will sell. Iv seen nights where bands sell one shirt and thats it, other nights, bands run out of merch. Its very hard to tell how the night will turn out, so its easier to say 'Sorry, we are all out' then it is to realize that your not making your money back.

I personally know how tough it can be to get started; though my band isnt selling merchandise yet, I handle the merch for a sister band, and It can be very stressful. When you start out, you will have to force yourself to limit yourself, go kinda cheap. You wont be able to sell those awesome, 17 color abstract design shirts with tribal art on the sleeves, the name on the lower part of the shirt and crazy designs on the back. One place I highly suggest is starting at http://www.customink.com, and using their library of extensive images and fonts to design a shirt. Their prices for shirts range, depending on what sort of shirt you make it on, how many colors you use, whether you put stuff on the back, and how many you order. A plain white shirt with just black on the front, 50 will run you about $6.50 a piece, or $325.50 total. Awesome deal.

Another good merchandise idea is to cash in on the silicone bracelet craze. http://www.wristbands-with-a-message.com is an awesome site that lets you design and order custom silicone bracelets for very cheap. A simple black bracelet with your bands name will cost $1.80 each, or $89.50 for 50. These are a great idea because you can sell them cheap, for example $2.00 a piece, and people love them and I always see people asking what other peoples say. I personally wear 2 each day, and usually once a week, someone will ask what they say. Bam, theres advertisement at work!

The last product/website I want to mention is http://www.purebuttons.com. Oh yea, 1 inch buttons, I see these things everywhere, and they are cheap cheap cheap! Purebuttons sells 100 buttons for about $18.oo. Oh yea, thats awesome, because they can sell to the public, for example, around $0.50 and your making $32.00 in profit! Thats wonderful! These sell cheap, and a lot of times, people enjoy buying more than one. These are like stamps, or charm bracelets for the modern day, and even I have lots. Im not sure a band could go without these kinds of advertisement and money making items!

Selling the merch is the easiest part. Find a buddy who wouldnt mind giving up a few feet of space to hold a few boxes (or heck, you can do it) and make sure they can attend all of the shows, or atleast have someone they can trust who can attend the shows they miss. Have them set up a card table at the venue in allowed areas, lay out some merchandise on the table, and just sit and smile. Its really not too hard, and if you want to be extra awesome, give away some free shirts to some die hard fans. Its pretty lame when you perform a show and not one person has your shirt on.

To wrap up, lets go over some important things to remember with selling merch.

1. Merch WILL make a lot of your bands income while your still new

2. Merch WILL NOT fully support your band

3. Merch IS advertisement 

4. People DO buy merchandise, though it can be slow

5. Merch is something you CAN NOT pass up!

I hope someone can find this useful! :D