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The Importance of Branding Music Merchandise

Selling merchandise as a musician these days is moreimportant than its ever been before. Some bands do this better than others,but one band stands king atop the merchandise category: Insane Clown Posse.This article examines the ICP gear line of action figures, comic books,backpacks and school supplies, and places an emphasis on just how importantbranding and merchandise is to musicians today.

Musicians these days have a very difficult time sellingtheir music; most of it falls victim to piracy. Thats why its more importantnow than ever before to sell as much merchandise shirts, posters, buttons,etc. as humanly possible. Some bands are better at this than others, but oneband stands above them all: Insane Clown Posse.

One of the most impressive things about the Insane ClownPosse isnt their success, their hatchetman logo, their enormous Juggalo fanbase, their own festival, their wrestling league or their expansive recordlabel -- its their unprecedented line of merchandise, or ICP gear. Thats whyartist merchandise like ICPs gear is so important it goes a long way inmaking up for lost revenue from illegally downloaded CDs.

Necessity of the Hatchetman

Merchandise is much easier to sell when theres arecognizable brand or logo plastering the item. When people like associatingwith your brand, theyll take every opportunity they can to do so. Most artistshave logos built around their name, but nothing more.

What makes ICP exceptional is that they have a band name, anaptly named record label (Psychopathic Records), a name for their fans(Juggalos), and a maniacal cartoon (the hatchetman) to brand it all with.Thats why all of the Jokers Card faces are so crucial to the success ofInsane Clown Posse.

If it werent for Insane Clown Posse member Shaggy 2 Dopesitting down and sketching the now famous hatchetman logo on a napkin back whenthe band was just getting started, ICP gear would not have nearly thesignificance it does today.

Product Variety

Aside from having multiple brands, the objective for everyband should be to have as many individual products to sell as possible. If wewere to list all of the hatchetman-branded ICP gear items out, it would take upmultiple pages. The fact is, Insane Clown Posse members Violent J and Shaggy 2Dope realized the importance of diversifying their line of ICP gear early on,and today, theres a multitude of ICP gear out there.

ICP Gear Diversification

Yes, Insane Clown Posse has branded traditional items likeclothing, jewelry and accessories with the hatchetman as part of their ICP gearline. And, also to be expected, ICPs gear line is stocked with all of themusic and other media like books and movies theyve put out under the InsaneClown Posse name over the years.

Not to be expected -- and this is what makes them so uniqueamong bands today is the collectibles section theyve built into the ICP gearline. Insane Clown Posse comic books and action figures based on characters inthose comic books have become something that diehard Juggalos pine forregularly.

Insane Clown Posse have even gottencreative with their traditional ICP gear items like clothing, extending it toinclude items like backpacks, wallets, and school supplies. Back to branding,much of these items are stamped with a Jokers Card face or the hatchetman.

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