the mysteries of merch
So, people have been talking a lot in the past few days about the ethics of illegally downloading e-books (including international/cross-cultural aspects of the issue). And it brought up a question for me that is very much tangential to the original point. Several people pointed out reasons why illegal sharing of music is not necessarily a good comparison for books. As 
hradzka says here:
"Here are some ways bands make money:
-- people pay money to buy their albums.
-- people pay money to attend their concerts.
-- people pay money to buy their T-shirts.
-- people pay money to perform their songs in public.
Here are some ways authors make money:
-- people pay money to buy their books."
But why exactly do people buy T-shirts (and posters, and pins, etc.) for bands? And would they buy T-shirts and similar merchandise for their favorite authors, if such were made available?
There are a few categories of fiction that I think are not generalizable to fiction as a whole, namely anything that already includes a strong, recognizable visual element: children's picture books, comic books, comic strips, manga, etc. My family owns t-shirts, stuffed animals, and/or action figures from all those genres. And it's kind of a no-brainer -- you get an image of *the actual thing you are a fan of*. (Obviously applies to most TV and movie merchandise, too.)
But it doesn't apply to band t-shirts. Often the shirts don't even have album cover art on them, let alone a picture of the band -- it's a completely new graphic. You can't hear the music when you look at it... so why do people buy them?
Here are two possible reasons, off the cuff:
(1) The merch marks an experience. "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt." A concert t-shirt is a souvenir of a place you went, a time you spent, an experience you had... and it also advertises such to other people. Could this same emotional dynamic apply to books? (I think some books, and some readers, create a much more "experiential" reading experience than others.)
(2) The merch marks an allegiance. Most popular genres of music are far more embodied in their musicians than books are in their authors, which creates a totally different fandom dynamic, and I wonder if buying merchandise is part of that. Is wearing something that represents those musicians an indirect way of furthering a relationship with them? Is it also a way of recognizing a relationship with fellow fans? And how would these factors apply to books? I'll toss my own probably uncharacteristic reactions out there: I know that when I was young, I didn't even like to know that authors existed -- thinking about authors interfered with my submersion into their work. And I didn't even enjoy discussing books with people until I was in college -- again, it interfered with that seamless, all-consuming experience of the fictional world. I've grown out of that attitude since then, obviously, but still... I think that in the contemporary U.S., even though most people's everyday music listening is done through headphones, there is still an underlying default assumption that music is more of a shared, social experience than reading is.
So where does that leave book merch? I don't know. Anyone have any ideas? Is this something that fan studies people talk about? (And what I've been toying with here only applies to mass-produced merchandise. I know that yuki_onna, for one, has been experimenting with handmade, one-of-a-kind merchandise for publicity purposes, like here, and I suspect that that may operate very differently for fans, in terms of the underlying psychology.)
This entry was originally posted at http://loligo.dreamwidth.org/414997.html.
comments on that entry. Comments on Dreamwidth preferred.
hradzka says here:
"Here are some ways bands make money:
-- people pay money to buy their albums.
-- people pay money to attend their concerts.
-- people pay money to buy their T-shirts.
-- people pay money to perform their songs in public.
Here are some ways authors make money:
-- people pay money to buy their books."
But why exactly do people buy T-shirts (and posters, and pins, etc.) for bands? And would they buy T-shirts and similar merchandise for their favorite authors, if such were made available?
There are a few categories of fiction that I think are not generalizable to fiction as a whole, namely anything that already includes a strong, recognizable visual element: children's picture books, comic books, comic strips, manga, etc. My family owns t-shirts, stuffed animals, and/or action figures from all those genres. And it's kind of a no-brainer -- you get an image of *the actual thing you are a fan of*. (Obviously applies to most TV and movie merchandise, too.)
But it doesn't apply to band t-shirts. Often the shirts don't even have album cover art on them, let alone a picture of the band -- it's a completely new graphic. You can't hear the music when you look at it... so why do people buy them?
Here are two possible reasons, off the cuff:
(1) The merch marks an experience. "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt." A concert t-shirt is a souvenir of a place you went, a time you spent, an experience you had... and it also advertises such to other people. Could this same emotional dynamic apply to books? (I think some books, and some readers, create a much more "experiential" reading experience than others.)
(2) The merch marks an allegiance. Most popular genres of music are far more embodied in their musicians than books are in their authors, which creates a totally different fandom dynamic, and I wonder if buying merchandise is part of that. Is wearing something that represents those musicians an indirect way of furthering a relationship with them? Is it also a way of recognizing a relationship with fellow fans? And how would these factors apply to books? I'll toss my own probably uncharacteristic reactions out there: I know that when I was young, I didn't even like to know that authors existed -- thinking about authors interfered with my submersion into their work. And I didn't even enjoy discussing books with people until I was in college -- again, it interfered with that seamless, all-consuming experience of the fictional world. I've grown out of that attitude since then, obviously, but still... I think that in the contemporary U.S., even though most people's everyday music listening is done through headphones, there is still an underlying default assumption that music is more of a shared, social experience than reading is.
So where does that leave book merch? I don't know. Anyone have any ideas? Is this something that fan studies people talk about? (And what I've been toying with here only applies to mass-produced merchandise. I know that yuki_onna, for one, has been experimenting with handmade, one-of-a-kind merchandise for publicity purposes, like here, and I suspect that that may operate very differently for fans, in terms of the underlying psychology.)
This entry was originally posted at http://loligo.dreamwidth.org/414997.html.
comments on that entry. Comments on Dreamwidth preferred.