Merch.

Does your band have T-shirts?  How about hats?  Wrist bands, necklaces, dog tags, stage backdrops?  If not, then you are missing out on some great opportunities to make your band memorable.

The popularity of an independent band depends largely on word of mouth and keeping your band name on the forefront of people’s minds.  To get them to talk about your band, you need a conversation starter.

What better starter than your band name and logo staring them right in the face?  Time to invest in merchandise.

T-shirts and hats are a cheap and efficient way to market your band and maybe even make a little money.  Sell them at the concerts you play.  Or throw a few from the stage during your set.

Setting Up to Sell

Get a trusted team to set up a table and sell your stuff while you focus on the show.  People wear t-shirts and hats just about everywhere these days.  If they are willing to wear the merchandise, they most likely will be willing to talk favorably about your band.

Why Have Merch?

Give out or sell 50 t-shirts, and you will have 50 walking billboards with 50 spokesmen!

Merchandise is cheaper than you think.  There are many places that will do custom work, and many with no minimum buy requirements.

Shirts.

A great place to get T-shirts is Custom Ink: Design Custom T-shirts & More Online.  They will do basically any design on just about any color of shirt.  Keep in mind, if you buy in volume, the price per shirt gets cheaper.

SWAG (Stuff We All Get)

If shirts aren’t the swag you want to sell or hand out, consider other merchandise like guitar picks, frisbees, beer cozies, water bottles, or whatever you can think of.  Sites like https://www.epromos.com/ have a great selection of random items.

Banners/Scrims

Most importantly, don’t forget to promote yourself while onstage with custom printed scrims.  We prefer NorthCoast Banners.  https://www.northcoastbanners.com/index.  A large scrim with your band