Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

english.elpais.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 232 posts

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

#131

Post by matthewkayin »

ageitgey wrote: post #90
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…

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…

I don't know if the Starbucks example is quite the same as the band example. If anything, their focus on iced desserts shows that they know exactly what their audience wants and is paying for.

When I think about the band shirts, I think about this time an indie game dev youtuber did a full breakdown of their different revenue streams. They were a "full time indie gamedev", but the overwhelming majority of their income came from gamedev Udemy courses.

So really, they were an online course seller that used their gamedev youtube content to convince people to buy the courses.

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

#134

Post by Imustaskforhelp »

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…

> 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.

I know some musicians are using Patreon but patreon takes a cut as well.

Now Although I don't like github but one of the last things that I like about github is that github sponsorships don't charge anything extra than the costs it would have itself and you get chargeback protection.

Would there be a genuine interest in using Github for sponsorships by Musicians, are there any real world musicians* who are doing that?

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

#136

Post by pc86 »

neutronicus wrote: post #127
VBprogrammer wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Because Blockbuster Video played a pivotal role in early-1900s segregation in the United States?

I think it's much more likely it's just a reference to extremely popular and economically successful movies but happy to be proven wrong.

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

#137

Post by pc86 »

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…

It's the only thing that works at scale.

If you want to support them you're more than welcome to message them and ask for their Venmo, or reach out to their agent (if they have one) or them directly and ask who to make the check out to. That just doesn't work at scale.

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

#138

Post by Imustaskforhelp »

carlosjobim wrote: post #99
kgwxd wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are more like live appearances. Basically them doing stuff while a DJ plays a recording of a song the "artist" probably had 1% part in writing. Expensive karaoke. The actual musicians of the world lose money doing live performances these days.

The "artist" has quite a difficult job as well, even with the machine behind them doing a lot of the creative and practical work. They have to dedicate a decade or more of their life at a prime age to the character - selling their soul if you will. And not going nuts in the process. Fame and extreme fame would turn any normal person crazy. But you don't have the option of withdrawing, because you have this army of ot…

> They have to dedicate a decade or more of their life at a prime age to the character - selling their soul if you will. And not going nuts in the process. Fame and extreme fame would turn any normal person crazy. But you don't have the option of withdrawing, because you have this army of other people depending on you, among other things.

100%, I do feel like fame at such level is a very net negative thing to have. You do get money and fame and there are many times within the media where paparazzi and others have made some celebrities lose their mind. And almost everyone loses a sense of something human with this sense of fame. From Princess Diana to Britney Spears to Justin Beiber.

The tragic true story of Justin Beiber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvnnbzcAjOU

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

#139

Post by nazgulsenpai »

Insanity wrote: post #108

I’m a big fan of rock and metal music and often go to concerts. I’ll always buy a t-shirt of the main band I go to see, even if I don’t particularly vibe with the design, because I know it’s an additional way to support a band I like. In my opinion that alone is worth it, but it is a fun piece of memorabilia. Although I don’t wear most of them in my day to day, especially the older ones. I’ve got shirts from about 20…

I wish I had, and the only shirt I ever got at a show was from Necrophagist. A girl I was seeing at the time left my house wearing it and I never saw it again :(

I went to see Amon Amarth headline in ~2013 and Sabaton was one of the openers. I had never heard of them before but they actually were on par with Amarth's performance and I've been a fan ever since!

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

#140

Post by mikkupikku »

taybin wrote: post #103
mikkupikku wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember when Jack Black ditched his long-time friend, threw him under the bus, for being mildly edgy against the establishment?

I don’t. What are you referring to?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Gass#Controversy
Post reply on HN