The old saying for in favor of having lots of merch designs is “you can’t download a t-shirt.” Well, you still can’t, but coming soon to a store near you is the ‘Music Tee,’ in which you buy a T-shirt that comes with a hangtag with a link redeemable for downloads. According to Digital Music News, Warner Bros. and Interscope have signed on to license the Music Tee idea, which was created via a joint venture with PR firm Girlie Action and the LA-based label Invisible DJ. What’s more is that the shirts will be counted by Nielsen SoundScan, so they’ll count towards sales.
While many of the shirts available so far are for indie and alternative bands (Third Eye Blind, Mutemath), Girlie Action and Invisible DJ have unveiled a ‘vintage collection’ of shirts, with three relatively niche bands: Bad Religion, Bad Brains, and Exciter. Exciter? Whoa. We didn’t even know Heavy Metal Maniac was still in print! The shirts generally have album artwork on the front and a track listing on the back. The Music Tee is a little steep at $45, but the right combination of album and artwork could make it a worthy purchase. And hey, it might even turn some fashionistas on to music they haven’t heard before. I mean, how many times have you seen someone like Lindsay Lohan ironically wearing a Motorhead shirt? And how many Motorhead songs do you think she knows? Exactly. You can pre-order the three coolest shirts here.
