Ah, the corporate day job–bane of musicians everywhere. Fortunately, the rock star confined to an office from 9 to 5 need not sacrifice his commitment to music. These cleverly customized ties are made from 50% recycled cassette tapes! The other 50% of “sonic fabric” is boring old cotton, but it’s the knowledge that you’re wearing an album that counts. Designers Alyce Santoro and Julio Cesar prerecord the tapes with experimental sound collages, but if anyone asks, you can pretend yours was made specifically to promote your music.

You can recycle an old Walkman to produce a tape-head-based “reader” for your necktie that actually makes sound, too–check out this informative clip. Sony should pick this up and run it as a promotional video to position themselves as eco-friendly–there must be millions of unused Walkmen languishing untouched and unloved, destined for the trash bin.

[via CoolestGadgets]

People who say the clothes don’t make the rockstar haven’t seen this t-shirt! A truly amazing piece of rock merch, this shirt can play all the major chords–just press the appropriate button and strum using the included magnetic guitar pick. I wouldn’t go as far as ThinkGeek does in their description and call it a “real musical instrument,” but it’s a work of art as far as apparel goes. There’s even an included mini-amp speaker that clips to your belt, and in true rock’n'roll fashion, the volume knob goes up to 11.

Who needs mp3 players? Make your own music without even picking up an instrument and you’re sure to be the life of the party…until the real band shows up, at least.

Audio purists aside, most music fans aren’t buying vinyl anymore. Turntables have given way to mp3 players, while hi-fi stereo speaker systems have been replaced by ultra-portable earbuds. But what of the records already produced?

Design company Vinylux has repurposed old LPs and EPs as drink coasters, rescuing them from a lifetime of obscurity languishing in basements the world over. If you don’t want to rest that steaming mug of coffee on your favorite album, you can always hang the coaster on the wall as a work of art, but why not raise a toast to your favorite musician, then set down the glass on their masterpiece? It’s no backstage pass, but a great way to recycle the rock’n'roll memories and protect your furniture at the same time.

Here’s a dilemma that faces music merch fans around the world–sound familiar?

The dress code at your job forces you to button down in conservative business apparel. With only the occasional Casual Friday for relief, you watch your awesome band t-shirts languish forgotten in the corner of your closet, the tunes coming from your headphones the only outward sign of your excellent taste in music. Surely, there must be some way to proudly wear your love of your favorite band, even in the workplace! What’s a merch fanatic to do?

Rapper Aesop Rock has an answer: customized shoelaces! These black and gold logo’d laces are eye-catching and stylish, subversively communicating your fandom from under even the most conservative business suit. Rock on!

Musicians cannot express themselves through lyric sheets alone, especially after the band begins to dissolve. Some go on to publish their words of wisdom in books, recognizing those who helped and inspired them along the way and trying to impart some greater knowledge to fans. Along these lines, rapper RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan recently released The Tao of Wu, a “spiritual memoir” branching off the more straightforward chronicle of the group that was 2005′s The Wu-Tang Manual.

Known for his spiritual leanings in addition to his rap prowess, RZA has made the book platform work as both autobiography and philosophical education. It’s not for all Wu-Tang fans, certainly–some want nothing more than the music on their mp3 player‘s headphones, maybe accessorized with a custom t-shirt or baseball cap–but given the number of people that have shown up at bookstores in recent weeks to hear the rapper speak without so much as a promotional poster advertising his presence in advance, RZA seems to have found another successful medium.

Goodjoe has launched a t-shirt design contest to support music education across the country. The contest is sponsored by the nonprofit Fender Music Foundation, which donates musical instruments to school music programs, after-school programs, and music therapy programs, and offers creative individuals a chance to give back to the community artistically.

The contest’s theme is “Give music life,” and it’s open to artists, designers, musicians, music teachers, and anyone else who supports musical education awareness. The author of the winning design gets a wad of cash and a customized Fender guitar sporting a decal of their graphic, along with the recognition of having their work on the site. Goodjoe donates a percentage of its profits to the cause, so even if your design isn’t chosen, you can still buy the customized t-shirt and wear your support on your sleeve. In this clever, unique promotion, everyone wins!

I’ve always found it amusing how the Misfits have branded practically every accessory on the planet in the name of self-promotion. Even though their ghoulish imagery isn’t exactly mainstream, the horror-punk band has put its logo on everything from ordinary t-shirts, to wallets, to light-switch plate covers. My favorite has got to be the Misfits ashtray–it even comes with a hook on the back, in case you want to display it as art on your wall! Personally, I’d rather stick to hanging posters on my walls, but to each their own…

Pepsi ads on the subways of Toronto and Vancouver have gone multimedia, if you’re lucky enough to be the first on the train to plug your headphones into the poster. Each connects to a mini-mp3-player embedded in the ad, which plays 30-second samples of supposedly “exclusive” tracks available on Pepsi’s Canadian website. To access full tracks, of course, you have to actually buy and drink the soda–under each bottle‘s label is a special code customers can enter at the website to download these rare, highly-prized songs, or to gain entry to other “exclusive” concerts and events.

[Not explained here: how exclusive can an event really be if anyone who buys a Pepsi gets in? Not to be a snob or anything, but aren't these "gala" events usually just glorified promotional t-shirt giveaways with free beverages on hand for the lucky few? Not that I'd know, or anything Hey, I like free stuff as much as anyone else!]

Sometimes a spectacular example of BAD music merchandise comes along, so bad I can’t resist spotlighting it. The Bob Marley Bib is one of these items. Bob Marley is dead, and, unfortunately for him, his merchandise rights have passed on to a group of entrepreneurs, each of whom apparently has several screws loose. Bob Marley t-shirts are overwhelmingly popular, sure; his posters adorn the walls of practically every dorm room in the country; his face appears on blankets, stickers, patches, and belt buckles. Even infant t-shirts almost make sense, if you’re the sort of parent who uses your children as a billboard for your musical taste. But bibs?

I suppose it could be worse. They could be selling Bob-Marley-print diapers.

Sunglasses are a must for any rock’n'roll star. How else are you supposed to protect your eyes from the bright lights of fame? Classic sunglasses are available in all shapes and sizes–I’ve probably gone through five or six different styles this year alone–but Oakley was the first to take it one step further and add an MP3 player to this staple of rock-star apparel. They have plenty of imitators by now, of course, but the original remains the most highly regarded. It can be loaded with up to 1GB of music through a USB port like any other player, and it’s infinitely cooler. Next time you want to live out your rock’n'roll fantasy in a pair of super-sleek mirrored shades, make sure you have a soundtrack!

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.

Finally, an ice cube tray worthy of the high-end beverage brands pouring out of the hip-hop scene! The trend Diddy–more famous these days for his frequent name changes and entrepreneurial ventures than his music–began by promoting Ciroc vodka is taking off in the hip-hop luxury circuit, with Jay-Z endorsing the Armandale brand right before dropping his latest #1 album, The Blueprint III. Gama-Go’s “HipHopsicles” are just begging to be personalized for music merch tie-ins.

While bar accessories like this might be a little silly for the “scene,” they still work as effective promotional materials. This tray lets you eschew the boring cube for microphones, turntables, boomboxes, and dollar signs, making high-rollers out of even the simplest glasses of water.

This guitar-shaped spatula isn’t associated with any particular band, but I still think it’s a pretty cool example of music merch. Even rock stars like pancakes and eggs for breakfast, after all!

It might be a little cheesy for a band to come out with their own customized guitar spatula, but the blank space on this one is just begging for personalization. I wonder if any bands have picked rock’n'roll kitchen utensils as their preferred form of merch?

[via SuburbanGothic]

For a musician with as many identities as David Bowie has, how can you stop at having just one around? You can’t. Hence this Matryoshka (Russian Nesting) Doll set. Twenty years of Bowies, all in layers…sounds like a dream come true.

[Unfortunately, it seems only this one set was ever made...Maybe next someone could do an extra-cuddly Bowie stuffed animal, or even an uber-retro beanie baby-style toy...]

I know it’s rare, or perhaps even unprecedented, to post videos on this here little blog where I’m mostly concerned about merchandise, but Modest Mouse is my favorite band and I really respected Heath Ledger as an actor, so I’ve posted the video directed by Ledger, King Rat, off of the new album “No One’s First and You’re Next”. As you can see, it has a very nautical theme with whales going human-ing instead of humans going whaling. It’s a little gruesome, but as long as those images of humans being skinned don’t wind up on promotional T-shirts, I’ll be ok. This album is getting put on my mp3 player tonight, and I’m pumped about it.

So it seems that every time I want to share with you some of my favorite merch from the height of my merch collecting days, Google can’t pull its weight and help me out. I’m not asking for much! Just an image of this awesome black and red baseball T-shirt my friend picked up for me when she went to go see The Bouncing Souls. I had really wanted their anchor necklace, but this shirt substituted just fine and I wore it constantly (with a plaid skirt and beat up Converse because let me tell you, I was sooooo punk rawk). Long story short– I don’t have it anymore because those youth large shirts shrink down to nothing after about 100 rounds in the dryer. So instead all I can show you is the design that was on the pin I had. But it’s definitely not as cool as my baseball tee. *Sigh*

Here’s a promotional hoodie for The Get Up Kids. I was never really into them, but I have to give them made props for the recent comments they made about the scene:

“Honestly, I don’t often think about the state of ‘emo’. The punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It’s like glam rock now. We played the Bamboozle fests this year and we felt really out of place. I could name maybe three bands we played with. It was just a sea of neon shirts to us. If this is the world we helped create, then I apologise…If a band gets huge and they say we inspired them, great. The problem is most of them aren’t very good. What does that say about us? I don’t know. Maybe we sucked. We at least can play our instruments.”

Buuuurrrrn! Go cry in a corner, emo kids.

With the untimely death of Michael Jackson last week, many are trying to capitalize off the late singer’s popularity and his fans’ grief. Promotional T-shirts like the one above are popping up, and older promotional merchandise is popping up on eBay with jacked up prices. It’s a little bit sick. The man was hundreds of millions of dollars in debt– it would be nice to see if some of these companies that are producing new imprinted apparel donate a portion of the proceeds to his kids to ensure that they’ll be taken care of.

I don’t really love U2, but I do absolutely love this promotional toy– a Lego set of the band! It really pushes the limits of what you can do with merch– and U2′s been around for a long time, so they’ve probably exhausted their limits of creative possibilities with promotional t-shirts and custom buttons.

Custom hats are another band merch staple, so it’s nice to see that they come in different styles. The promotional baseball cap is great for summer and warmer months, while the beanie keeps you warm in the winter while still letting you show off your band pride.