Music Funding 101
T-Shirts
Of all the exposure techniques available to bands and sponsors, T-shirts are probably the best place to start, especially for lower level sponsorships. A sponsor might feel a bit strange about putting his name on a shirt (depending on what kind of business he has), but he must be remembered that he is trying to get its name if front of fans who like music; and t-shirts are a hugely popular item with music lovers. Here are the reasons for considering shirts:
ESTABLISHED: T-shirts are already accepted by the public as a place where things are advertised and displayed; and sponsors already understand the printed-shirt concept, which makes it easier for bands to sell the idea of using shirts.
COST: T-shirts have a low total price-point to start because you can begin with just a few of them. The entry-level thin, white shirt with black print on one side costs about $3 USD each, in batches of 144. There is no real minimum (sometimes it's 24 shirts), but for marketing purposes you should never need to consider less than 144. Shirts can be ordered online at a million different places, or they can be printed locally... just look in the phone book under "t-shirts", "embroidery", or "promotional products." When deciding on quality, always get the cheapest shirt you can get which still has the look and feel that the band and sponsor wants, but get as MANY as you can. You need to make the most impressions as possible on the fans, as well as those who are not yet fans; the way to do this is to make cheaper shirts, but make MORE of them: many more.
ART INTRUSION: Sponsor name/logos are not considered to be much of an "intrusion" into the art of the band if the size of the sponsor name/logo is kept small, or if the name/logo is on the other side of the shirt. Also, the design, wording, and art for the band can be just as the band wants, without infringing on the sponsor. The obvious separation is, indeed, to have the band on one side and the sponsor on the other. This becomes a negotiating point, of course, as well as an art/layout project which could take time to finalize. For simplicity and speed, go with separate sides. The fun of TalentFunding.com is that you can search for people who have the same fondness for t-shirts as you do.
MULTIPLE SPONSORS: We've all seen shirts with many sponsor logos on them for things like festivals or marathons. T-shirts are a proven way to group together two or more sponsors in a way that displays each one without overshadowing the other. Of course the size of each sponsor's name/logo is another negotiating point, but that makes it fair to all: you get what you pay for (bigger name/logo for more money). Since most bands are entry level when it comes to finding and negotiating with sponsors, they will probably need more than one sponsor in order to get the amount of funding they need. T-shirts can accommodate this.
VERIFIABLE: Since the shirts are worn by fans around the local town where the sponsor lives, the sponsor can easily verify (and thus feel good about) how many times his name is being seen. It's one thing to tell someone (or even prove with documentation) that their name is being seen by X number of people; it's quite another for that person to see it for themselves. This applies especially to the newer, lower-level sponsors that are local to the band who may not have a lot of experience in tracking the results of their marketing.
RETAIL: If the sponsor happens to be a retail location, he can help with the distribution of the shirts. If the sponsor is not a store, he may still have products which do get retail distribution; if so, there are ways of using those accounts to get the shirts out to the public. And while it may be tempting to try to sell the shirts at these retail locations, in most cases you will get more results by just giving them away (the big exception to this is at live shows, where you usually sell them.) The idea is to expose the band and sponsor name to as many eyeballs as possible. Be prepared to go through a lot of shirts if you do this. This is the goal: cheaper shirts, and MORE of them.
FREEBIES: Speaking of giving away shirts, understand that even if you are exclusively trying to sell your shirts, you still need a certain percentage of them to be given away as free samples. Club bookers, radio stations, music stores, entertainment magazines/sites, (and for bands: other prospective sponsors) etc, will all expect free shirts. They are important people in your marketing world, and they will never pay for shirts.
MODIFICATIONS: Since shirts can be made economically in quantities as low as 144, they are easy to change before you make your next printing. Things like adding a sponsor, changing a logo, trying a color... all are feasible with small runs. A more advanced option is to do a "split run" where half the run is printed one way, and the other half is printed another way, in order to test the effectiveness (usually for the sponsor) of different wordings and layouts.
MEDIA TESTS: Shirts are a good place to test the band/sponsor layout and wording before committing to much larger and expensive media as bus benches, buses, billboards, newspaper, etc.
RADIO: T-shirts (along with bumper stickers) are the most popular items that radio stations use to promote themselves outdoors. This is a good thing to keep in mind, especially since cross-promotions with stations are sometimes possible.
SIZES/COLORS: Most music fans who are male want large or extra large black shirts. Some girls want these too, but they many times go instead for "baby tees". Since you now have a sponsored band, you have the capability of going outside the regular music crowd; so you may just want to focus on tons and tons of cheap white shirts.
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