I’m not much of a Metallica fan, but they have some great promotional merchandise. This belt buckle features their “ninja star” logo, and even though the band’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on it, anyone can recognize that the wearer is a Metallica enthusiast. Having a recognizable logo opens up a whole new realm of merch possibilities for a band–not just belt buckles, but jewelry, pins, and other small items can be attractively branded.

On the other hand, when bands try to make belt buckles out of album covers, the results often look a little silly. The illustration has to be shrunk and simplified until it’s just a bunch of colorful blobs. Those designs work much better as t-shirts or patches, where all the details and colors can be appreciated.

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