Most people remember their first big concert, I know I do. It was Billy Idol on his Rebel Yell tour in 1984. I was 14 years old at the time and I still remember how cool I thought it was walking into my first concert. I remember the excitement in the air, seeing the vastness of the venue and thinking, yes, this is where I want to be!
And what is the first thing most people do when they walk into a concert venue? I know with me it’s head right to the merchandise booth. Even after thirty-five years of attending concerts, it’s the first thing I do. I have to see what cool merch the bands of the night are offering up.
I’ve always associated t-shirts and music, all the way back to my first concert. I saved my money for weeks to hopefully have enough to buy my first band shirt at an actual concert event. I remember the concert being awesome, but I also remember the excitement of the t-shirt I bought that night. I would get to wear that t-shirt to school the next day knowing I would be one of a few people or the only person wearing that shirt. How cool is that!
I’ve always associated t-shirts and music, all the way back to my first concert. I saved my money for weeks to hopefully have enough to buy my first band shirt at an actual concert event. I remember the concert being awesome, but I also remember the excitement of the t-shirt I bought that night. I would get to wear that t-shirt to school the next day knowing I would be one of a few people or the only person wearing that shirt. How cool is that!
Later, when I started playing music in my teen years, I learned how important the t-shirt could be for your band.
I can remember in the mid 80’s going to the local print supply store and getting a screen made of a one colour print design with my band logo. You would buy a clamp kit, some ink, and a squeegee and could print right on a table in your home. You would clamp your screen to a table, pour in your ink, set a t-shirt under the screen and with a squeegee, pull the ink over the screen and onto your shirt. Then, with a heat gun, you would do an initial ink cure and then throw them in the dryer to cure them even more. That’s how we created our very first band shirts. I still remember how cool that was, you just made your own band shirt! We would give them away to friends at first, it was a great way to market your band. Selling them at your gigs helped cover the costs of the supplies and shirts and if you could sell enough, you could make more!
So how did this all start?
From what I can find, the first “band” t-shirt was created by the Elvis Presley fan club in the late 50’s. It was part of your fan club package so that you could proudly show your musical allegiance.
In the 60’s, concert promoter Bill Graham started making band t-shirts for the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and other bay area bands to help raise their profiles in that music scene.
In the 60’s and 70’s the band t-shirt became like a souvenir or a reminder of who you had seen at the local pub on a Friday night. Further, into the 80’s, smaller, independent bands started using the printed t-shirt to get their name out to new fans.
Now, bands from the 70’s to 90’s have become their own brands. When celebrities started wearing Ramones and Beatles t-shirts with their iconic logos, it became not so much fandom but a fashion piece.
Nowadays, with everything music-wise going digital, the t-shirt has become one of the best ways for the local independent band to make money. If done properly, you’ll usually make more money off merchandise sales than you would from streams of your songs or money from playing gigs.
That’s something that we at GetBOLD can help you with. Most of our design team have been involved in music in some shape or form for many years collectively. We can help with designs, t-shirt printing and we know what’s the best shirt to use and how many you should do initially to get the best return on your investment.