When I bought a ticket for the Rolling Stones concert I didn’t go to, I got added to the “Rolling Stones Fan Club.” Being a member of the Rolling Stones Fan Club means getting offers to buy Rolling Stones branded merchandise before everyone else does. And, boy, do the Rolling Stones ever pimp their brand.
Just for having bought a ticket, I could buy $30 tour t-shirts, and equally expensive baseball caps, jackets, water bottles and more. But it didn’t stop there: I was offered the opportunity to buy the same swag from the European tour. Oh, your typical band might limit their licensing to tour gear, but not the Rolling Stones. You can buy a variety of Rolling Stones calendars, toy trucks, baby clothes, bobbleheads, videos, playing cards, towels, and lighters. The Rolling Stones “tongue” logo is emblazoned or patterned onto anything that’ll fit it, whether it’s a minidress or a cowboy hat. You can even buy Rolling Stones wine.
I unsubscribed once, but the unsubscription didn’t take. Peter said hippies don’t unsubscribe from anything, and if they do, they don’t remember that they did the next day. So I just got another advertisement for the latest Rolling Stones goody: a checkered flag tongue pin, some sort of cross-promotion with the Daytona 500. So if you’ve ever wondered, have the Rolling Stones sold out, not just in the concert sense, the answer is absolutely yes.
Hmmm.. it is a shame they feel the need to squeeze every possible drop of profit from the stone(s) but you kind of hope it’s a decision by the record company not the band themselves.
In the UK our merch site is much more sparse and rarely updated; which is oddly enough rather reassuring. Evidently no such look across the pond!