Hammond Music

Posts Tagged ‘promotional material’

Branded merchandise has helped bands such as Megadeth, Metallica and Iron Maiden (Last nights winners of ‘best live band’ at the Brits -well done lads) gain exposure to the general public and more extreme band such as Cradle of Filth and Cannibal corpse gain notoriety because of their slogans and imagery across t-shirts, causing angry looks from your mother and giving your grandmother a shock.

Merchandise can gain your band some exposure, and also keep the band wheels from falling off. My own metal band (SYNBIOTE) went on a 9 date tour across the uk recently, and the only way we were only able to afford the rental van, petrol ,food and a drink or two was through merchandise sales. Getting our own t-shirts printed up has allowed us to generate income to pay towards us going out on tour, as you can charge more money for a t-shirt rather than a cd, and people might purchase two or three t-shirts, as opposed to just the one cd. Some of the t-shirt sales income has also gone towards paying for the recording of our ep and helped when it came to getting them pressed up. This means we dont have to dip into our own pockets as much, which can be a livesaver when you need to pay for a recording session and your rent and bills.

Other promotional merchandise that its worth thinking about putting your band logo onto:

Hats and basballs caps, jackets, underwear (yes, you did read that correctly), belts, backpacks, back patches, stickers- if your logo will go on it you need to get it on there and unleashed it on an unsuspecting public. More unusual items with attract attention, but will cost alittle more to get made -so check prices before buying 1000 customised zippo lighter, even if they do look damn cool.

Branded merchandise can usually help keep bands on tour, and some have decided to make their merchandise as eye catching, gory and over the top as possible to shift the stuff -heres alook at some rock bands who’ve sold merchandise by the bucketload because of their genuis.

Cradle of Filth. The Ipswich boys and girl have always liked the hit the controversy button to give the daily mail something to scream about. the ‘Jesus is a c**t’ t-shirt is their most famous one, which has landed some of its wearers in court on public indecency charges. Just as offensive is the ‘guilded c**t’ t and the ‘get thee behind me satan’ t-shirts. Very ‘tasteful’, in a twisted way. Loathe them or love them- they’ve proved that swearings not big, but its clever.

Iron Maiden. When artist Derek Riggs created Eddie, maiden’s zombie mascot managed to sell millions of t-shirts for them. From a pair of trainers with the latest album cover to speical one-off t-shirts, Eddie will be on them to make sure you buy them.

Cannibal Corpse. Also going for shock value, but going about in another way to Cradle of filth. While Cradle have their black tongues firmly placed in cheek, Cannibal corspe are on a mission to guy everyone is sight on their merch. Most of their merchandise shows the gory album covers, which feature zombie lovin’, entrail eating, baby butcherers (CC fans know which albums i mean?) from the mind of artist Vince Locke, helping the band sell thousands of t-shirts. Just dont upset them.

Afew bands with some very interesting ideas of promotional merchandise:

Kiss. Most bands would sell their grans to achieve the fortune and fame they want. Kiss bass player Gene Simmons did that years ago, along with her house and the rest of his family (but no-one would buy grannies teeth). From board games, comics, their own wine, set of collectable coins and a Kiss coffin, which doubles up as a fridge so its not just sitting around waiting for you to kick the bucket.

Manowar. The viking themed metallers have given us the ‘warriors shield’ – Manowar’s own brand of condom. Not as amusing, but still pretty unusual- xmas tree decorations, ear plugs and bottle openers.