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The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'

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Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'

#121

Post by abap_rocky »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #120
abap_rocky wrote: post #87

I 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…

1. I understand the truth of it 2. The inefficiency bugs me I.e. I want to support the band, but feel like only a fraction of the money spent on merch goes to the target. Same with websites that have mugs and such. I don't want another mug, I don't want to pay 5.99 for shipping, I don't need to support the white box oem mug manufacturer. But I guess in the real pragmatical world, that's the support mechanism that act…

Yeah, also the fact that most venues take a cut of merch sales really dampens the idea that buying merch directly from artists is the best way to put money in their pocket.

I even recall going to a show many years ago where the lead singer refused to sell his t-shirts at the venue and implored us all to meet him outside at their tour van for direct sales. I don't think he got invited back to perform there!

Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'

#122

Post by MidnightRider39 »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #120
abap_rocky wrote: post #87

I 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…

1. I understand the truth of it 2. The inefficiency bugs me I.e. I want to support the band, but feel like only a fraction of the money spent on merch goes to the target. Same with websites that have mugs and such. I don't want another mug, I don't want to pay 5.99 for shipping, I don't need to support the white box oem mug manufacturer. But I guess in the real pragmatical world, that's the support mechanism that act…

Just give them money directly without the merch. Or purchase their music, most (small) bands sell it directly as well.

Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'

#123

Post by MidnightRider39 »

abap_rocky wrote: post #121
NikolaNovak wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. I understand the truth of it 2. The inefficiency bugs me I.e. I want to support the band, but feel like only a fraction of the money spent on merch goes to the target. Same with websites that have mugs and such. I don't want another mug, I don't want to pay 5.99 for shipping, I don't need to support the white box oem mug manufacturer. But I guess in the real pragmatical world, that's the support mechanism that act…

Yeah, also the fact that most venues take a cut of merch sales really dampens the idea that buying merch directly from artists is the best way to put money in their pocket. I even recall going to a show many years ago where the lead singer refused to sell his t-shirts at the venue and implored us all to meet him outside at their tour van for direct sales. I don't think he got invited back to perform there!

Never heard about venues taking a cut off the merch - that’s fucked up… They already take (in almost all cases) 100% from drinks and bar sales. In my experience the ticket sales and merch go completely to the artist. Anything else I would consider a rip-off

Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'

#124

Post by card_zero »

wholinator2 wrote: post #84
norome wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you missed the point

I dunno, the guy likes words. At least i learned something :)

I also like the Ramones and my Ramones shirt. I was trying to implicitly say what Arkhaine_kupo above me has now said.

I suppose there's often another layer to it, which is that you might think your favorite band (or, say, Apple) has principles and will stick to expressing certain important things. But then they might lose sight of the principles and start churning out lowest common denominator shit for money. It's not as simple then as money=bad. It's more that money as the goal means you have no goal (and your corporate mission statement is a feeble apology for that).

Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'

#126

Post by longwave »

MidnightRider39 wrote: post #123
abap_rocky wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, also the fact that most venues take a cut of merch sales really dampens the idea that buying merch directly from artists is the best way to put money in their pocket. I even recall going to a show many years ago where the lead singer refused to sell his t-shirts at the venue and implored us all to meet him outside at their tour van for direct sales. I don't think he got invited back to perform there!

Never heard about venues taking a cut off the merch - that’s fucked up… They already take (in almost all cases) 100% from drinks and bar sales. In my experience the ticket sales and merch go completely to the artist. Anything else I would consider a rip-off

In larger UK venues this has been happening for some years now, there is a campaign against it: https://thefac.org/venuedirectory

This has been followed up by similar action in the US as well: https://weareumaw.org/my-merch

Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'

#127

Post by neutronicus »

VBprogrammer wrote: post #101
ageitgey wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 squ…

Or Blockbuster being a massive real-estate company. Or McDonald's for that matter.

On the other hand, the naming of Blockbuster[1] makes more sense with that context.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbusting

Re: The truth that haunts the Ramones: 'They sold more T-shirts than records'

#128

Post by smcg »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #120
abap_rocky wrote: post #87

I 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…

1. I understand the truth of it 2. The inefficiency bugs me I.e. I want to support the band, but feel like only a fraction of the money spent on merch goes to the target. Same with websites that have mugs and such. I don't want another mug, I don't want to pay 5.99 for shipping, I don't need to support the white box oem mug manufacturer. But I guess in the real pragmatical world, that's the support mechanism that act…

Merch is the most profitable thing for the band. They can mark it up however much they want. $35 tee shirts are very profitable.
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