Rockabilia on a roll

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A fan displaying his love for the popular band Parikrama

Music enthusiasts in the capital who have grown up wearing tees and caps of their favourite bands have now a reason to rejoice. A large number of city-based Indie music bands are starting to sell their own merchandise.

Randeep Singh of alternative Delhi-based music band Menwhopause says, “We introduced the basic stuff like T-shirts, girls’ tops, cable bags, ashtrays and hip-flasks when we released our first album. Our limited amount of T-shirts are still available for fans at modest prices. I believe music merchandising is a great medium for gathering attention especially during an album launch.”
As the Indie music scene is growing up in the country, bands are finding alternate means to connect with the audience through merchandise that includes T-shirts, caps, wallets, beer mugs, ash trays, wallets, bags and much more.
Although merchandising is not exactly a money-spinner at this juncture, most Indian bands feel it is a great way of connecting with the audience. Reuben Bhattacharya, bassist of Undying Inc, a popular rock band says, “Music merchandising is definitely picking up in India. It is a great revenue-generating medium and a good alternative for the growing bands.”
Most band members agree that the maximum sales of the merchandise happen during the live shows.
Rohan Kulshreshtha of Delhi-based band Peter Recording Company says, “Keeping in sync with recent trends, our band is planning to come up with unique and innovative merchandise like flags with funky messages and posters or something different and affordable for the youngsters. We would like to launch it when we release our new album.”
It’s not just the newer bands that are the new entrants in the domain; even the veterans in the music industry have tried their hands at merchandising.
Subir Malik of Parikrama band says, “We have been in the industry for almost 22 years now, and we have roughly given away around 25,000 shirts for free. We are into music merchandising, but honestly speaking we have not exploited it as a revenue-generating medium. We believe in the age-old adage, ‘Jo dikhta hai woh bikta hai’ (what is visible is what sells). So we try and circulate as many T-shirts as possible for free.”
City-based music enthusiast Pallav Goel says, “One can flaunt these cool items like tees, caps, badges or bags of your favourite music bands in your college campuses. It really looks quite hip.”
If you love them, just flaunt them!