Musicians are weirdos.
Musicians are weirdos. We say that with love since we have a great affinity for them. And we are them.
Correction: We are weirdos.
Which is actually a point of merit and a reason behind our success at managing merch and making artists money.
Case in point: What do a bamboo backscratcher, oven mitts, gold-foil trading cards and a bust of Yung Gravy’s head have in common? Nothing except us — the makers of unique, quirky, off-the-wall merch.
Nontraditional merch is merch for the hell of it. It’s the creativity most people lose when they’re 8 years old. The sheer, limitless joy of aspiration. The strange stuff just for fun. It’s creative flexing… and we can pump iron like nobody else.
Remember fidget spinners? We were one of the first companies to mass produce a branded spinner. We track down weird stuff on purpose. We treat innovation like food; we like it, we love it, we always want more of it.
Which brings us to Yung Gravy’s Gasanova album cover. It features a 2D bust of him with a smoking hot hairdo, wearing gold aviators. A chef’s kiss of the ethereal and ridiculous.
There was just one problem: We didn’t know what the back of his head looked like. And we needed to know. For curiosity’s sake and because he wanted to reproduce the bust in 3D, to sell.
We can’t help but smile just remembering. Such a thrillingly ridiculous idea. So perfectly wacky.
But back to reality. By the time the average merch vendor lists out the problems with an ask like this, we’d have listened to Gasanova in its entirety and memorized all the lyrics.
First, there’s the industry’s four-letter word: minimum order quantity. After MOQ, there’s the issue of finding production. Then, finding production that isn’t garbage. Finding production that doesn’t just laugh in your face. Getting someone to agree to create a prototype. Finding a way to print the colors. Finding a way to print the colors so they look good. Really good. Finding someone who will just simply do what they say. Also, the aforementioned invisible back of the head design. And so on.
In fact, if you asked me off the cuff, I’d tell you it was a fabulous idea but just not in the realm of doable.
Oh, but we just couldn’t help ourselves. Nobody else had the guts to try it, that was obvious. While our boring, analytical brains said, “Phooey,” our reptilian brains were squealing while riding buck naked in a doorless pickup through a tornado.
So you could say there were problems, but we decided to look at them as hilarious speed bumps on the way to Groovy Town.
We did it.
We created a new partnership. Somebody who didn’t balk at our minimum order quantity. We completed the design. We figured out the colors and the cost and the material. We blew everyone’s minds with production turnaround on a dime. We cackled with laughter all the while.
And we plonked Yung Gravy’s head on a shelf behind our desk. The colors are perfect. The back of his head is as beautiful as the front. The funkyness is overwhelming. God, we love it.
Cause unique is exclusive. And weird is the most honest and appealing and creative we can ever be. Who doesn’t want in on that?
