I dunno, Seems like author of article is projecting, I feel like most people would be happy if they made that much of an cultural impact
I have a friend that worked with them. I sent him the article. He’d know, if it was correct.
And?
The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'
81–90 of 232 posts
Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'
#82Seems like The Ramones were way ahead of their time, whether they knew it or not. Before the digital age, most bands made the bulk of their their money from record sales. Concert tours were just promotional events for the latest album. That model has since been flipped to what The Ramones were doing 50 years ago - "music sales" earns little compared to concerts and merchandising. Now that's punk rock! LOL
No. Just no, this is backwards. Bands, especially bands early in their career made money from touring. Merch was always a huge driver. Bands got “loans” to record albums with that had to get paid back first before they made any money from album sales.
It’s better now because artists can record pro quality music at home and go direct to consumer with TikTok and Spotify.
Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'
#83I was wondering the same thing about Iron Maiden the other day - they seem more of a merch company than a heavy metal band these days. You can get Iron Maiden beer, Iron Maiden wine, Iron Maiden sunglasses etc. let alone the common merch like T-shirts. Given many more people can buy merch than can buy a concert ticket (which has inherently limited numbers) I wonder how the two revenue sources compare.
Poor take. In the last three years alone they've played over 100 concerts. Their set is two hours. They're all in/approaching their 70s . If that's not a band, I'm a pterodactyl.
Even if they are indeed a band, that doesn't mean you are not a pterodactyl, mind you.
But pterodactyl are pretty cool too my mind, so no offense really.
Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sell meant "give" in Old English, including the sense of "give up", "surrender", "betray". (Their word for sell was equivalent to *be-buy.) https://www.etymonline.com/word/sell Etymonline says the meaning "betray for gain" is from 1200. So this is probably where "sellout" comes from. Compare with "he sold us out". There's an entry for sellout too: https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=sellout "corrupt bargain".
I believe you missed the point
I dunno, the guy likes words. At least i learned something :)
Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'
#85The Ramones are most defintly un haunted, doubly so by anything as subjective as the "truth"
They captured, held up, and released the feeling that litteraly countless humans have experienced, and wished, as it turns out,to display as something
"gotten off there chest"
Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'
#86Isn't the whole point of touring to sell merchandise?
Today perhaps. But in the past the artists money from selling records. So the tour was to promote the album, rather than the other way around
Sadly that wasn’t true in the past either for the majority of acts. The labels made money from both parts back then.
Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'
#87I was reading an interview with the band "Agriculture" recently and they had a really interesting take on this. From this interview https://www.treblezine.com/agriculture-interview-quiet-viole... :
"DM: We exist as a band because we sell t-shirts. Our job is that we sell t-shirts and the way we promote those t-shirts is by playing music. If we were talking strictly economically, that’s just a fact.
LL: Weirdly, it’s also our most direct engagement with the money we make and with our fans. We’re often selling our own shirts at the merch table; that’s actually how we talk to a lot of fans and get feedback on our sets. We get cash in our hands; that’s one of the most direct economic exchanges in our lives as musicians. So, it is funny because it seems cynical, but it’s actually one of the more grounded exchanges in what we do."
As it turns out, I had a nice little chat with their drummer when I bought one of their tshirts.
Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'
#88If the Ramones put their name on all sorts of merchandise does that make them sellouts? I joke, of course, and I'm a big Ramones fan. I've had numerous iterations of that shirt over the years. I often use them as an example when discussing "what is good art?" They are one of the most influential bands of all time and yet they were terrible musicians.
How are they terrible musicians? They played their specific type of music extremely well. Like, technically better than most people will ever be at music. People loved seeing them play. I still enjoy their records. So, what is terrible?
"technically better than most people"
I guess with them touring and playing basically non-stop a certain kind of that is inevitable.
Their concert frequency was on par with the otherwise known as most prolific band ever, The Beach Boys. It's just that The Ramones' members all died around third of the way (~20 years of touring vs 60).
Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'
#89Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'
#90I was reading an interview with the band "Agriculture" recently and they had a really interesting take on this. From this interview https://www.treblezine.com/agriculture-interview-quiet-viole... : "DM: We exist as a band because we sell t-shirts. Our job is that we sell t-shirts and the way we promote those t-shirts is by playing music. If we were talking strictly economically, that’s just a fact. LL: Weirdly, it’s…
It's very smart of them to recognize that.
The world is full of these weird business cases where people aren't aware of the actual product, like how Starbucks US morphed from a coffee shop into an iced dessert drinks company that also incidentally sells hot coffee.
Edit:
Other fun examples -
In the mid-2000s, Porsche was an incredibly successful hedge fund that also sold cars who tried to acquire VW using a short squeeze.
Most US airlines are profitable frequently flier points companies that also operate airplanes to justify the program.
Target US is a real estate company that operates also (profitable) stores.