Merch Guide For Musicians & Bands

Whether you’re a successful musician or an up and coming band, having merch to sell at events is critical. There’s a variety of items you can sell as merch to event goers as a way to promote your music. Choosing the right items is key to ensuring sales.

Why Do Musicians Need Merch?

Musician merch has always been important to bands, both as a source of revenue and to help raise awareness of your ‘brand’. Fans love buying merch too - the music we like is closely tied in with our identity, and wearing a band’s t-shirt is a way of showing off that identity to others - adverts for your band, helping promote your band anywhere and everywhere they go.

Having a good range of merchandise not only generates you income but raises your profile as a band and can help get you new fans!

Check Out How To Design A T-Shirt

What Merch Should You Sell?

The real key to getting started with merchandise is to look at how much budget you have to invest. If you have a larger budget it is worth looking at what your fans would like - ask them and develop a small range, but you could also go for plenty of low budget options such as badges, stickers and posters. Your budget will also play a crucial role in determining what your inventory will look like.

Ask Your Fans

You can slap your band logo on just about anything these days, but don’t leave it up to chance. Be direct and ask your fans what they want! Put up a quick poll on your social media, in your email newsletter, or on your music website to get an idea of the kind of merch your fans would actually enjoy.

Research

Check out other band’s merch - Gather merch inspiration from bands that are similar to yours in terms of genre, brand identity, and number of followers.

Check Out Merch Ideas: Band Posters & Art Prints

Cost Effective Merch

When you’re deciding what to get made, cost is always going to be a factor. There are three main things to bear in mind:

  • Overall cost of production: Patches, stickers, and keychains are popular because they’re a low-cost items that you can give away as well as selling them. By contrast, hoodies are a more expensive item that will cost more - however, the profit is bigger.

  • Minimum runs: All items will have a minimum quantity that you’ll be allowed to order. This will be higher for some types of merch than others.

  • Complexity of design: If you’re screen printing items (the most common technique for t-shirts), you’ll be charged a set-up cost for each color in your design - meaning a complex design with 4 colors will be much more expensive to produce than a simple 1 color print.

Find A Designer

Creating the right attention-grabbing artwork is a big part of a successful merch campaign. Hiring a professional graphic designer can save you a lot of headaches when it’s time for the printing process. It’s important to communicate what you are intending to do with the art work as certain designs may not be suitable for screen printing (too detailed or thin lines).

Finding a merch designer that specializes in packaging or has knowledge of apparel printing is a plus! Otherwise, make sure they understand what your intentions are before beginning the designing process.

Check Out How To Design Artwork For Screen Printing With Puff Ink

Custom Merch

Adding an element of customization to music merch item can be a great incentive for event goers. Being able to add initials to a jacket or a hat by using a live embroidery service is a low cost way to customize merch on-site.

If a live event merch customization agency can fit into your marketing budget, do it! Having experts working at your event either embroidering hats or screen printing t-shirts adds an additional element of entertainment to your show which encourages sales.

Selling Merch Online

While not on tour, selling merch online is another way to earn passive income and still promoting your music.

If you’re attracting fans to your website or Instagram profile, it’s a missed opportunity if you’re not offering them stuff to buy once they’re there. Services like BigCartel give you a free shopfront where you can easily add your products and have fans pay by Paypal. You just need to keep track of stock levels, and make sure one band member is in charge of packing and shipping the orders.

Another solution is merch agencies such as Family Industries who offer a variety of merch items that can also be fulfilled on-site and shipped directly to the buyer. Merch manufacturers can often also add additional branding items such as stickers or personalized notes and they guarantee great quality.

Be Creative!

Selling a t-shirt with your band name and artwork is essential, however, thinking outside the box and offering a vinyl with an art print can elevate your brand and ensure you’re providing quality to your fans. It may also additionally present as a great gift for someone, which automatically takes your merch to the next level.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

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Merch Ideas: Band Posters & Art Prints

The process of printmaking is one of the older forms of artistic process based on the principle of transferring images from a matrix onto another surface, most often paper or fabric. As a merch agency, we believe that posters or art prints are great items to sell as band merch.

Band Merch

Band merch can be difficult to sell if you don’t already have a big following. However, making cool merch is a great incentive for people that may not be familiar with your music to make a purchase. Merch can include apparel such as band t-shirts and band hoodies, or it can also include accessories such as water bottles or key chains.

Band posters are a less thought of merch item, but we believe it’s a great option for those looking to keep cost down and create true art prints that have more of a “limited edition” feel.

The History of Band Posters

Selling posters is a way of advertising, after all, printed posters is the original way we used to advertise. They were meant to serve this specific purpose.

No one cared that they’d sit in the rain and get damaged or have pinholes in them. They were solely used as a tool to get crowds to attend live music events. This is very clear when you look at the original letterpress posters from the late 1950s and early 1960s.

60’s and 70’s Music Era

In the 60’s society experienced the psychedelic era, during this time, the true art form of the concert poster began to develop. This new style came largely out of San Francisco, where artists began to create posters for the budding music scene that the decade brought in.

During this time, the intention behind the design remained the same as it had been: to bring people to shows. The posters contained important information such as band name, venue, date, and time. However, it included more clever and eye-catching psychedelic designs.

Later in the 60’s and early 70’s, print designers and makers begin focusing on creating visually ambiguous fonts. In addition to the font, psychedelic concert posters made use of vibrant colors and beautiful imagery that was unique to every individual piece. This led to some people taking up poster collecting as a hobby.

The Punk and New Wave Era

In the late 70’s Punk and New Wave music emerged and these new genres brought a new form of show advertising with them, and DIY flyers became prevalent around cities in which shows were being held. Venues such as CBGB in New York and Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco became known for specifically showcasing bands within these genres.

Punk communities thrived on the concept of doing something yourself, and concert art was no exception. Most punk flyers were designed using a pen and paper, an x-acto knife, and a Xerox machine. They were not created to be works of fine art, but to demand the attention of anyone who saw them.

Punk music flyers and posters became a true form of street art, and those who recognized this saved various flyers that they found on the street as they were often tore down due to people perceiving them as offensive or unattractive.

Posters as Merch

As advertising became more of a digital medium, the evolution of printmaking continued. Modern collectible concert art is created for a different purpose. Rather than being designed primarily as a promotional tool, posters have become a form of concert merchandise.

Today, artists will design a poster that may be specific to a tour date, an entire tour, or a festival. Often a limited number of copies will be printed. Sometimes there will be variants of the poster, such as foil prints, that are created in even smaller quantities and thus hold more value.

What’s The Value of a Poster?

In order for a print to be valuable, there can only be a certain amount of them. There are people who collect band and festival posters, for collectors, the limited edition tag goes a long way.

Though the above posters have been around a shorter time than some vintage posters, condition is still important! A poster with pinholes, tape marks, or tears will not hold up in value the same way that a pristine piece will. So, if you’re thinking about selling posters at your next gig, make sure you have the appropriate packaging to keep them in good conditions.

Finding a printmaker has become more and more rare in the era where most prints are done by machines.

At Family Industries, we have a print master that creates prints using screen printing as a primary method. These prints are highly regarded as they are all done by hand and the quality is superb when compared to machine printed posters.

On top of that, screen printing produces more vibrant colors. So, if your design has very specific colors or more vibrant colors, screen printing is the best option.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

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Promotional Gift Ideas For 2022

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As we welcome the new year, you may be thinking of ways to improve your business or step up your game in one way or another. Swag bags or promotional gifts may be a good way for you to maintain engagement or improve your brand visibility.

We will take you through all the promotional merch ideas for 2022.

Key Features

When looking for the best promotional gifts for your business, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. Certain criteria may apply better for your type of business, however, overall we believe these features will be helpful.

  • Small Items

  • Portable Items

  • Adaptable for Remote Work

  • Easy To Ship

  • Sustainable / Eco-friendly

  • Home & lifestyle-themed

  • Health and wellness-themed

  • Unique and on-brand

All the products below can be branded in different ways with a business logo, a graphics design, branded packaging, and more.

Check Out Best Eco-Friendly Merch

Swag Box

A swag box is commonly used as “Thank You” gifts or “Welcome” gifts for agencies or service providers for clients. Swag boxes are unique in the sense that you can pick and choose what type of items to include and the personalization aspect is much more pronounced.

For example, you can put your logo with your company colors on the box itself and include items that also display your logo, company moto, or tag line.

Check Out A Guide To Creating Your Own Merch

Top Ranking

Promotional Items

Water Bottles

This doesn’t have to be a boring items, you can make it cool by choosing the right bottle. There’s various styles you can customize to incorporate your logo and any other aspects of your branding.

For example, JBL used a MIIR wide mouth bottle and added their logo as well as some artwork they created for this specific merch item. Water bottles are a great promotional item because there’s a lot of surface to play with and because it’s a functional product.

Portable Laptop Stand

This simple yet sleek design is great for remote workers or people that travel for work. Woox laptop stand is the perfect compact yet useful gift for clients old and new. With more people moving towards remote work, this makes a thoughtful gift that can be included in a swag box as it is small and light. It’s also an opportunity to laser cut your logo into and keep the your cost down.

This is also a very simple design that most merch agencies such as Family Industries can produce for you.

Learn more about How To Capitalize From Branding Costs

Personalized Socks

You can never go wrong with socks! Personalizing socks with your company colors and logo is an easy and budget friendly merch item to include in your swag box. You also don’t have to worry about size as much as you would with other apparel items.

You can also include ankle socks if the weather calls for it. Socks are generally a safe gift as it’s a common wearable item that all us use, and because of the size it’s an easy item to ship.


Wireless Power Bank

A wireless phone charger is a great canvas for your logo and it can be used by everyone with a phone. This is a great gift for a client or employees. Again, it’s a small item that can be easily shipped and it’s a highly utilized product.


Pourover Coffee Maker

Corporate gifts don’t have to be boring. A branded pourover insulated coffee maker is the perfect alternative to a coffee mug or a travel mug as this is one step above the traditional gifts. With this pourover coffee maker, you are sure to impress your clients.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

Looking to assemble your own promotional swag kit?

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Covid-19 Continues To Disrupt Supply Chains

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The consequences of the pandemic when it comes to supply and manufacturing have been long lasting and it may be a while before we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. With the delays in transit times, shortages, low employment and more, many of us have had to practice patience or look for alternatives to continue business as usual. We’ll go through all the shortages that many of us are facing and give you a inside look into how it is affecting Los Angeles print shops like ours.

The Domino Effect

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In early 2021 as covid restrictions began lifting, we started to notice the biggest change in supply and demand. People’s spending habits not only shifted back to normal but in the case of eCommerce the changes show an astonishing increase in sales, which created more demand as the supply was running out.

More notably, we are seeing this play out with restaurants who are not only having a hard time hiring and retaining employees but are also experiencing a shortage in supply and slow shipping.

Read US consumer sentiment and behaviors during the coronavirus crisis

Rising Costs

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With low inventory and manufacturing issues coupled with inflation many industries are raising manufacturing costs. You may be seeing this most notably with the price of food at your local supermarket.

For print shops across the US, costs have increased and we believe they will increase more as shortages continue. As an apparel business, you may be faced with the tough decision to either raise your prices or look for alternative styles that match your previous COG.

How is The Shortages Affecting Apparel?

According to Forbe’s consumer report on apparel, the industry welcomes the rise in prices but remains tenuous. For a business like a print shop that offers t-shirts and hats, the story is a bit different. As a print shop and fulfillment business, we are in a tough position, however, we strive to work with our clients on finding solutions and weathering the storm.

Where do the shortages start?

The supply of garments are mostly imported from countries such as China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh; where the Covid-19 restrictions are tougher and employers are forced to minimize their work force to avoid further spread of the virus.

Data from 2020

Data from 2020

Besides the delays in manufacturing, we found that the primary reason for the shortages is delays in shipping. Because materials such as cotton is grown in one country and processed in another as well as the actual creation of the garment and then shipped to you (or us) for printing. The various stage of making apparel coupled with slow transit times are causing much of the shortages.

Furthermore, because of the increase in demand across the board, countries like China are having a hard time keeping up with the shipping due to delays of cargo containers. In 2020 containers were not being shipped back at the same rate they were arriving to our US ports, this has created a bottleneck effect and is contributing to delays.

In addition to delays, the cost of shipping containers has increased from $1,500 in early 2020 to now in 2021 at almost $9,000 per 40ft container. This is yet another reason why costs have gone up.

Read more about Why The Pandemic Has Disrupted Supply Chains

Unable To Meet Demand

During the early months into the pandemic, online shopping grew 32.4% and has overall helped the eCommerce sector for most industries including small independent apparel brands. Young people are moving away from traditional fast fashion retail stores and seeking unknown and more exclusive apparel brands.

Source: Digital Commerce 360 analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce data

Source: Digital Commerce 360 analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce data

Due to high demand, we recommend to make a plan and order your apparel NOW while styles are still in stock or pre-order apparels in anticipation of further shortages.

Conclusion

DON’T WAIT - Order what you need now or in advance to minimize wait times and secure inventory.

FIND ALTERNATIVES - Should specific garments not be available, talk with your screen printer or supplier to find the best alternative for what you are looking for. This issue may persist well into the following year, so finding an alternative could be your best bet.

RAISE YOUR PRICES - With inflation on the rise and the obvious increase in cost, it is a good idea to begin raising your prices incrementally and in anticipation for overall costs increasing.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

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send us an e-mail at quotes@familyindustriesla.com

Screen Printing with Foils and Metallic Inks

In screen printing there are different types of inks, finishes, and techniques. Foil and Metallic finishes are a good way to make your print stand out. These types of screen printing techniques add textures and vibrancy to apparel prints as well as flat stock prints such as posters. We’ll take you into the ways these techniques are applied and show you examples.

What is Foil Screen Printing?

Foil Screen Printing is similar to traditional screen printing but an adhesive glue ink is used instead of plastisol inks. The foil is cut in squares off of a large roll of foil. It is then placed over the glue adhesive print and heat pressed. The heat press activates the glue adhesive and grabs onto the foil. After the print cools, the foil sheet is pulled off and the excess foil is peeled off of the garment.

Foil works great for simple accents to a design as well as a loud bold statement. Foil prints give a mirror like effect to your screen prints and really shine when any light hits them.

There are a few different types of foils, holographic foils gives the most dynamic effect as it reflects light creating a variety of different colors as seen on the example image.

Foil printing is a premium screen printing method so you need to make sure you’re only working with true screen printing experts like us!

Check Out How To Screen Print Foil Transfers with Wilflex HD Clear Foil Adhesive

Pros

  • No set-up costs

  • Can be used on all types of products/garments

  • Great for letters and numbers

  • Fast process

  • Perfect for single color designs

  • Perfect for sports garments

Cons

  • Material isn’t breathable

  • Durability not as good

  • Struggle with gradient designs

What is Metallic Screen Printing?

Unlike printing with foil, to achieve a shiny metallic print you don’t need an overlay treatment or transfer because there are metallic inks that are used in the same way plastisol inks are utilized. The most used metallic inks are silver and gold and give off a shiny but non-reflective finish. Metallic inks work best when there are no small details to fill as the ink is a bit thicker than normal.

Metallic inks not only look nice, they will also help take your marketing materials to the next level by providing a more “expensive” look. When you incorporate metallic inks, you create a shiny and glossy effect that will make your full color postcard, business card, catalog or brochure stand out from the pack.

Pros

  • Smoother print finish than glitter inks

Cons

  • Not good for fine detailed artwork

  • Plastisol based metallic inks have a rubbery hand feel

List Of Metallic Inks:

  • Pantone 873 – Metallic Gold

  • Pantone 877 – Metallic Silver

  • Pantone 8003 – Metallic Platinum

  • Pantone 8021 – Metallic Champagne Gold

  • Pantone 8062 – Metallic Pink

  • Pantone 8100 – Metallic Purple

  • Pantone 8201 – Metallic Blue

  • Pantone 8281 – Metallic Green

  • Pantone 8381 – Metallic Moss

How To Design fOR fOIL pRINTS AND Metallic Inks

If you’re thinking about using metallic ink on your next print project, it’s always best to talk to your printer first to make sure they have experience with this type of ink. You may also want to ask to see samples of projects using metallic ink.

1. Choose your apparel blanks with color pairings in mind 

While starting with a well-chosen garment is important for every custom apparel project, the look of unconventional and eye-catching metallics will change greatly with the blank you choose.

Muted colors like olives and soft earth tones will tone down and refine metallics, while jewel tones - like emerald, deep reds and royal purples or blues - will create a flashier look. 

2. Consider surface area for an impactful design 

One of the ways to get the most impact from your metallic embellishment is to incorporate it into a larger surface area, which will best catch the light and give your design the most noticeable sheen. 

On the reverse, incorporating metallics in smaller areas or a design with thinner lines can bring an ink that’s admittedly not for the faint of heart to a more approachable level. Make sure to consult your printer.

3. Use metallics as an accent with other inks

Not every design needs to go full-on with foils or metallics, all of these specialty services can be paired with standard inks. 

Use metallics and Foils to highlight a specific aspect of your design, whether it’s a word you’d like to emphasize or an element of your graphic you want to really stand out. 

4. Typography heavy tee 

A popular and easy way to include metallics and foils is with text. The above tips can be equally helpful in designing your typography tees. 

To emphasize the sheen of your specialty ink, choose a bold, blocky font and a larger text size. To include metallics in a less overt way, use a thinner font or combine inks to highlight a specific word or letter. 

Don’t be afraid to play with positive and negative space - A knockout (or reverse text) design is a great way to increase surface area while using the color of your apparel blank to your advantage.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

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Printmaking Design Trends of 2023

Graphic design trends are as unforgettable and recyclable as apparel trends, and this is why the two sometimes overlap, especially if you’re a lifestyle brand. Printmaking can be an integral part for all brands and especially if you’re an artist or musician.

A bright yet simplistic mood is brewing in print design for 2022. Print trends across magazines, brochures, packaging and posters will be dominated by bright colors, playful shapes, and novel print finishes.

DESIGN TRENDS

80’s and 90’s nostalgia is back and it’s everywhere from how kid’s are dressing to what brands have adopted as their brand visuals. Within this genre, we see influences from the past with a touch of modern elements.

90’s Retro Design

In 2022, the retro comeback has finally landed on the 90s with the pop culture comeback of The Matrix and Netflix’s Fear Street, ushering in an era of gothic serifs, neon colors and vaporwave landscapes.

we are reexperiencing the 90s through Memphis design patterns, simple emojis and primitive internet frames also known as brutalist design.

Within this genre of design, we see minimalism and simplicity front and center. People want the sense of familiarity coupled with fun abstract shapes that are not overwhelming.

Typography

2022 is bringing more vibrant, expressive, and experimental lettering. In this new era, we expect lettering that pushes the bounds of easy legibility, creating forms that are expressive in and of themselves.

Because this trend is rooted in experimentation and personal expression, the sky is the limit as far as how it can look. Mismatched letter styles, mind-bending shapes and amorphous blobs are all on the table.

All in all, this type of lettering challenges the distinction between abstract shapes and legible letters.

Illustrations

designers of 2022 are taking their inspiration from past pioneers of flat design, specifically the Ukiyo-e artists of Japan’s Edo Period. Ukiyo-e is a style of printed artwork (though it was sometimes painted) using hand-carved woodblocks. Using this technique allows for scenes in stylized flatness.

Simple line drawings are also going to be a standard in printmaking and overall graphic design. These meandering drawings are intensely personal, and the designers of 2022 are injecting their professional work with a bit of their own abstract mindscape.

Doing so can bridge the gap between digital tools and a human touch, creating designs that are approachable.

Collage Design

The collage is almost like the anti-design, as it’s past has notoriously been a signal of low-budget and grungy.

Most notably, this grunge-type print has a physical presence through analog elements such as tape, torn pages and scribbled handwriting - rebelling against the clean, flat graphics of the digital age.

This design style adds more personality and more energy and movement to poster artwork, tickets, and flyers.

By Nejc Prah via nejcprah.com

Bubble Design

Much like puff prints on apparel, bubble design is everywhere. Bubble shapes have an undeniably positive effect, as circles often convey friendliness and levity due to their lack of corners. But unlike the typical bubble fonts and shapes (which often find their way onto products aimed at children), this 2022 trend revels in exaggeration through elongated forms and psychedelic colors which give it a little more grown-up feel.

Author: Irene Floridia - Content Creator

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