Hey Jude…are you thirsty? Well, if you are then here’s the perfect travel mug for you! The Beatles Sgt. Pepper travel mug is customized drinkware everyone will love. The Fab Four will be with you no matter where you are. And just as their music warms up your heart, this mug will be sure to keep your promotional coffee warm as well. The memorable Sgt. Pepper album cover wraps around the cup and has a clear plastic covering to protect your precious music memorabilia.

Can’t get enough of the Rolling Stones tongue emblem? Dry your eyes and erase your fears. You can make your own wagging tongue (with water)! The Rolling Stones ice tray is a cool way, no pun intended, to make drinks fun. So, pull out your customized drinkware, pop in your favorite Rolling Stones tunes, and get some satisfaction! The ice tray is made out of rubber for easy dispense, but only comes with nine tongue molds. So be wise about who you choose to share your customized goodness with.

Lyric Culture is a clothing company that gets their inspiration from popular culture songs. The clothes are named after a song and imprinted with its lyrics. Wouldn’t it be cool to rock an imprinted t-shirt with your favorite Beatles or Madonna song lyrics on it? Of course it would! This isn’t your ordinary customized t-shirt from the vendor stand. It’s quality clothing inspired by quality music. I think it’s a clever and cool way to show love for the oldies but goodies.

Most musicians put their names on perfume or clothing to build their brand. However, Dr. Dre has started a new trend. The Beats by Dr. Dre headphones and earphones are more than a set of promotional ear buds. They are state-of-the-art, customized listening devices that not only allow you to plushly listen to your favorite tunes, but they allow you to hear all of the claps, booms, and snaps of the intricately produced beat. Now we can add music accessories to the list of things we love Dr. Dre for. Lady Gaga and P.Diddy have followed suit with their own line of Beats headphones and earphones.

Once you’ve thought you’ve seen it all, you usually find out that you haven’t. This 3 pack of “Kiss Kondoms” is one of the most clever pieces of music merchandise I’ve ever seen. Not only are they customized, but they are promoting safe sex(rock & rollers haven’t really been known for doing so). The image of Gene Simmons’ infamous tongue on the front is the kicker for me. It says “You can still be raunchy, but play it smart at the same time”. Who wants a customized t-shirt when you can have “protection” from your favorite band?

So check this out, GGRP is a sound engineering company that created these do-it-yourself cardboard record players. They then sent them out to creative directors across the US trying to make their presence known… talk about an interesting type of custom business card…While it only boasts a 45rpm music playing capability, the innovation and sheer awesomeness of this record player makes me think my promotional mp3 player is lame.

Here’s a custom t-shirt that any guitarist would love. EADGBE refers to the open notes on all 6 strings of the guitar – the guitarist’s alphabet. My favorite mnemonic device for remembering the string names? Eddie Ate Dynamite – Good Bye Eddie. Not such good news for Eddie, but I haven’t forgotten any of the string names since I learned it!

I got my hands on some non-traditional merch this weekend at a special event for my favorite band: Umphrey’s McGee. Only 50 people were invited to the Umphrey’s S2 event, so the band made sure to create event tickets that reflected the unique exclusivity of the event. Each attendee received this custom trade show badge that had the name of the event on one side, and a space for band members to leave autographs on the other. Trade show badges don’t sound like the most exciting piece of band merch, but when they are autographed and exclusive, they immediately turn into must-have souvenirs! This badge has immediately become the coolest “ticket stub” in my collection of more than 100!

It’s no secret – the record industry as we know it is crumbling to pieces. File sharing has changed the game, and artists now have to deal with a marketplace that can easily distribute their music amongst itself for free! So, how are worthy artists expected to survive? Some people say that band merchandise is the answer. That’s right – custom t-shirts, logo pins, and promotional bumper stickers are the light at the end of the tunnel according to some industry analysts. The low cost of common band merch items makes this route particularly attractive to relatively unknown artists with small budgets. It remains to be seen whether or not bands will be able to sell enough merch to survive, but when you combine these sales with digital downloads and tour tickets, it seems possible!

This Blink 182 merch is genius. Fans usually get all the merch they want, but what about the guy who has to sit behind the table and peddle shirts, logo buttons, and posters in a dark venue all night – where’s the love for him? Blink 182 decided to give props to these hardworking guys and gals by giving them some custom t-shirts of their own. The printed shirt reads “I sold merch for Blink 182 and all I got was this crappy t-shirt (and a paycheck)”

Lately there has been a trend toward reclaiming “paper dolls” from their knee-jerk association with little girls’ toys. This Kanye West “Papercraft” bear is a pretty impressive step in that direction. Constructed by Paper Matez, the bear is accurately detailed to Kanye’s “Graduation” cartoon creature, complete with shuttered sunglasses and copiously branded Louis Vuitton backpack. Hopefully it doesn’t come with the rapper’s much-publicized attitude problems…

[via StreetLevel]

If you’re the kind of person who can’t stop at just telling people about the music you listen to – whether they don’t “get it,” or they simply haven’t heard of any names you mention and you’re tired of being misunderstood – this shirt allows you to program an included controller with 20 different sound files (10 songs and 10 sound effects) and inflict them upon others at will via the giant speaker on the front of the shirt. The shirt comes with its own stock sound library, but you can replace them with your own sounds or simply plug in your MP3 player. So next time you’re trying to flirt with that cute guy or girl at the bar and happen to drop the fact that you’re in a band, you’d better have a quality demo ready…

[via StreetLevel]

This custom cap is a stylish accessory that will keep Wu-Tang Clan fans happy, even as the group itself sort of fades in and out of existence while its members work on their solo projects. It’s too bad they don’t seem to get along for extended periods of time, because 8 Diagrams was much better than most of their solo albums have been lately. Here’s hoping the release of more branded apparel means they’re working together in the studio again…

[via StreetLevel]

Have you ever been in the middle of a party where the music is really, really good and stopped to muse to yourself, “I wonder what level of 1 MHz frequency I’m hearing right now”? I haven’t either, music geek though I may be, but there’s always the possibility that this will happen when you or I least expect it. To that end, the equalizer t-shirt is the definitive wearable gateway to knowledge of all things frequency-related – its sound-sensitive electroluminescent display, powered by batteries hidden in the shirt, reacts to the music playing around you and lights up with corresponding band levels. Unfortunately, you can’t adjust them from the shirt – that would be impossibly cool – but you can make suggestions to the DJ and back it up using your shirt’s readings as evidence!

[via Oddee]

Behold, a phrase you never thought you would hear uttered: Pink Floyd bike shorts. Nothing against Pink Floyd, but do you really want your band name riding around straining against someone’s gelatinous thigh as they pretend they’re in the Tour de France instead of on the city sidewalk? Sure, every band puts their name on t-shirts, but there’s a reason for that – normal, sane people can wear t-shirts out in public. Not so with bike shorts. I’m all for alternative methods of transportation, but please, find some kind of sportswear that doesn’t traumatize the rest of us.

[via Fashionably Geek]

While I was lamenting the lack of rock star plush toys a few posts ago, I did recently come upon this set of Beatles miniatures – a little too detailed to be called “toys,” though their big-headed cuteness is definitely endearing. Manufactured by Rotobox Vinyl Atomica, they come with their own instrument accessories. Unfortunately, they don’t actually play music, but hey, you have your Beatles album collection for that.

[via StreetLevel]

If you get annoyed at people who insist on tapping out nonsense rhythms with their pens on whatever hard surfaces are lying around, this musical pen will probably send you over the edge. If, however, you’re tired of having to wait until you get home from work to hammer out the drum line in the hit song you’re working on, this could be useful. In addition to writing (for the lyrics, of course), this novelty pen plays drum, crash, and snare sounds depending on the buttons you press. It’s no substitute for having a full kit in front of you, of course, but it’s a fun desktop toy, and it can’t be beat for portability. After all, just try to sneak a drum set into your cubicle. I dare you.

[via Perpetual Kid]

It seems that some musicians will license their image for use in anything – from baby clothes to office supplies to floormats – but interestingly enough, I can’t seem to find any of these common offenders in the realm of stuffed toys. You’ll put your logo on light switch covers and ashtrays, but you won’t let someone make a plush toy out of you? *Sigh* Musicians…

These classical composer stuffed “thinkers” from Shakespeare’s Den are so cool that they’re outfitted with music boxes that play the composers’ works. Having been dead for centuries, though, Mozart and Bach are exceptions to the no-licensing-plushies rule I seem to have uncovered. For current stars, I’m drawing a blank! Aside from good old Michael Jackson, of course. Where are the plush rock stars at?!

Video games combined with guitars do not always lead to Guitar Hero or other bland substitutes for actually playing real music. This cool (if unabashedly geeky) guitar unites the case of an old Nintendo system and the neck and accessory hardware of a mini Les Paul to form what its creator calls the “NES paul,” hopefully inspiring gamers everywhere to put down the fake musical instruments and pick up the real thing. News flash – making music is more fun than playing with expensive electronic toys!

[via Technabob]