Merch: The OTHER Intellectual Property Theft

Ok, so I've spent a good amount of time making the argument that one of the best ways bands can make up for income lost due to pirated/shared music is through merchandise sales. What I didn't tell you is that there are sharks in those waters as well. This conversation doesn't apply to the vast majority of bands. Partly to those who have gathered some level of momentum, but mostly for those who have moved passed calling it "momentum"and have started calling it a career. The problem runs a little deeper in this case because there is no source/hub/community to crackdown on like there is for torrenting sites. No one is going to shut down all of Amazon and go door-to-door reclaiming Radiohead t-shirts, nor should they. But sooner or later something needs to be done about this. One thing that you can do as an artist, is find ways to market your merchandise to fans when you're not on tour. The vast majority of you don't have bootleggers lurking outside your shows or opening fraudulent Amazon accounts, and if you do, you're probably paying someone to read this for you. But this is a good idea anyway and if you're lucky, it will become a serious problem for your band too.