Seth in the news

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

Admittedly I had a few years off from the board, but based on the last time Seth was in the news, I wasn't sure what I'd find in this thread!

my same thought, was apprehensive to open this thread

[bearman🐻]

All I can contribute is that I have a number of friends who are musicians who are not finding it sustainable to tour. The business is getting more challenging for them, and at a certain point if they can't make money on merch, it doesn't make sense for them to go out on the road. Independent labels are no longer fronting some legacy bands with money to record new records. I understand that it's easier for newer bands who can get a ton of streams, but it remains to be seen how long labels will invest in them. The cost of renting vans, trailers, gas, hotels, etc. make the economics of touring more complicated and tricky. Merch is one of the last fallbacks for musicians, and I'm glad that the article mentions those things because I'm hearing about it more and more. Bethany from Best Coast made a great new LP, and she can't afford to tour behind it or promote it. It is not out of the realm of possibility that we will see some bands not touring as much, so it shouldn't be a surprise. The numbers have to make sense for them to go out and play. And ultimately, that could hurt promoters too. Having nights where a venue is dark probably doesn't help the costs for operating it and keeping it open.

[hutch]

So here is what I don’t get… Pretty much rock bottom price for shirts for shows I go to is $25.

How much does it cost to make that shirt, transport or mail it, etc?

Am I crazy to think you can make a shirt for a few bucks if you place a large order?

Am I to understand this is not profitable if a venue takes 20% like they been doing forever?

What are we defending here? Acts ripping off their fans on t shirt sales? Because when I see a t shirt on sale at a show for $35 or even $40 I think ripoff not thank god the band is selling shirts at insane prices. I guess the counterpoint is that if the venue wasn’t taking 20% that shirt might maybe be $30.

There are always bands for whom touring isn’t going to be profitable. Acts that were popular a long time ago and whose fanbase has shrunk are going to struggle. And maybe they can’t tour but isn’t that the market dictating things?

One last thing… I noticed a few applauding the black cat. Has anyone noticed how many nights they don’t have acts playing whereas 930/Atlantis always have something (admittedly “parties” sometimes but same at Cat)? If the merch policy is so critical to bands and the Black Car doesn’t take the 20% cut why aren’t bands flocking to play there? They have 11 shows scheduled for November and 8 in December.

[Yada]

So here is what I don’t get… Pretty much rock bottom price for shirts for shows I go to is $25.

How much does it cost to make that shirt, transport or mail it, etc?

Am I crazy to think you can make a shirt for a few bucks if you place a large order?

Am I to understand this is not profitable if a venue takes 20% like they been doing forever?

What are we defending here? Acts ripping off their fans on t shirt sales? Because when I see a t shirt on sale at a show for $35 or even $40 I think ripoff not thank god the band is selling shirts at insane prices. I guess the counterpoint is that if the venue wasn’t taking 20% that shirt might maybe be $30.

There are always bands for whom touring isn’t going to be profitable. Acts that were popular a long time ago and whose fanbase has shrunk are going to struggle. And maybe they can’t tour but isn’t that the market dictating things?

One last thing… I noticed a few applauding the black cat. Has anyone noticed how many nights they don’t have acts playing whereas 930/Atlantis always have something (admittedly “parties” sometimes but same at Cat)? If the merch policy is so critical to bands and the Black Car doesn’t take the 20% cut why aren’t bands flocking to play there? They have 11 shows scheduled for November and 8 in December.

Unless you're buying piece of shit shirts that look like you're wearing a cardboard box, even when buying in bulk, $10ish is about the lowest it goes... that does not inclue shipping, other charges, etc.

Now if you want 10,000 shirts printed in china, that's probably another story.

[hutch]

Ok good to know… then maybe profit margins aren’t as big as I thought..

Touring for bands starting out has never been easy…read the Replacements bio…oh and they refused to sell merch for years… it’s always grind it out when you are coming up….read the Grohl autobiography about touring with Scream, Rollins’ Get in the van, etc

Heck read about the Beatles in Hamburg!!