thread's not dead - doITlab

Skate decks by Munk One
another studio over us. Agents do that, they pitch their artists to the client and
the client chooses who they want to work with. You win some, you lose some.
Repping agencies interact with clients and then look in their pool of talent to
match up the right designer or studio for the job. They typically negotiate the
payment with the client and they take their cut as the artist rep. Many illustrators
and fine artists get jobs this way.
There are plenty of repping agencies out there, but the barrier to entry is tough.
We’ve knocked on the door of a bunch, and sometimes it seems like nobody is
home. You’ve got to figure out who the right people are to talk to and how to
reach them. Try reaching out on LinkedIn or other social networking sites.
They get daily submissions and requests, so you can imagine how overwhelming
it becomes to sift the wheat from the chaff. They talk to the people that
stand out the most. Do your research and make friends online. Be professional
and follow their submission process. But make sure you stand out and give
them a compelling reason to include you in their roster.
Here’s a list of artist repping agencies.
THREAD’S NOT DEAD • Jeff Finley
The Easiest Way to Design for Major Label Bands
How do you get the opportunity to design a shirt for Korn, Metallica, Madonna,
or Michael Jackson? Merchandising companies of course. It’s unlikely Madonna
is going to hire you herself. Instead, big celebrities get their merchandise made
through merch companies.
A lot of bigger labels use merchandise companies like Bravado, FEA, or Global
Merch who are good at taking all of the merch to retail. Their job is strictly
to manage the band’s merch and the relationships with retail buyers like Hot
Topic. The band merch is officially licensed and there’s quite a bit of red tape involved
that I personally don’t even know much about. As a designer in this situation,
you’re the very last person in a long chain, and often in the dark about
the whole process. Once your design is sent off, who knows where it goes and
what happens to it. You’re about as far away from the band as you can possibly
be. But these merch companies are usually the ones that consistently employ
some of the best freelance designers and studios out there.
One merch company can provide a designer with a stream of band merch work.
It can run the gamut from heavy metal band tees for Slayer or Slipknot to The
Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift. I’m sure Taylor Swift has no idea that the designer
who did her tees likely has also done tees for Insane Clown Posse or
Marilyn Manson. Most of the band tees you see in retail stores are from a small
number of merch companies. If you’re looking to really take the leap into band
merch design, this is where it’s at.
From my experience, it was fairly easy to contact a merchandise company and
get forwarded to a creative director. You might have to do a project or two for
no pay to “prove your worth” or maybe you’ll get a job right away. It never hurts
to try, but you need to have an incredible portfolio if you plan on going this far.
Pros of Working with Merch Companies:
The best thing is that you’ll work on a steady stream of big name bands. This is
the highest opportunity for most designers to get their designs to a mass audience.
Have you ever wondered who did that new Iron Maiden t-shirt design? It
was probably a freelancer working for a merch company. The pay is typically
decent at best, but it’s usually consistent. As you can tell, you’re not going to
make a lot of money doing band merch, unless you’re a big name artist that
Platinum selling bands are asking for by name. In that case, you’ll be doing
Freelancing 21