Merchandising 2013 topic (MK.com Newsletter)

[vgonis]

 I don't mean any disrespect, I do enjoy talking with you about such matters, and I understand the use and seriousness of the original  products, but if you can make something like a t-shirt or mag or hat with your personal taste and create a unique item, does it really matter that it doesn't come from an official provider? Forexample,I really like the direstraits guitar thing used for the first 3 albums. But I do not expect to find any t-shirts or hats with it on! (Actually I was presented with two , 6 years ago, one black and one white and I love to wear them. They block the sun nicely and fit my head perfectly.  I also saw this very same guitar, this summer in electric blue t-shirt. An older shabby man wore it!)

[3Strats]

I usually get T shirts but don't wear them that often so they don't fade or get "tatty".  They are also reasonably priced compared to some other stuff- I thought the signed lithographs were quite expensive for what they were.  I'm not sure I'd want a T shirt with the Privateering cover on though - what other image from the new album could they use? - yes, a nice guitar close up!

My favourite ever tour merch is my small metal pin badge of the National with "Dire Straits" running up the neck.- I still wear that but would be really upset if it fell off & I lost it.   Some metal pin badges of a red Strat with a rosewood neck would be nice! They used to sell things like that in music shops but I haven't seen any for ages.
I'm firmly in favour of the simfy recordings - most bootlegs I've heard are spoiled by crowd noise, -usually a "clown" standing next to the recorder whistling or shouting requests !  I bought 3 (downloads) from the last tour & think it was money well spent. 

[jbaent]

I have to say that I didnt received the e-mail frommk.com asking about this...

[Mona Dee]

I sent an email with the following items as ideas:

* Limited edition

[dmg]

How about a nice quality polo shirt with embroidered "MK" lettering on it?  I think they done T-shirts like that for the STP tour, but I don't know if the letters were embroidered or just stickers.  I prefer something more discrete, then you could wear it every day and it would still look classy.

[Pottel]

This is what I send, just in case any of you wants to ask the same and make it possible:

T-shirts are always nice, I always love that one with all the dates at the back, maybe it can be mixed with a live picture of MK playing his new blue Pensa, and a small picture of the cover at the high part of the left, I mean, the part of the shirt where my heart is behind.

Official Live Recordings is one of the items I would like to see, as happened with Get Lucky tour, its great to leave the concert with the recording of your live shows, Many companies as TheMusic.com or http://www.concertlive.co.uk do it with other artists and it works very well.

I'm sorry to disagree, but I don't like the live recordings idea.  The Simfy thing and the previous 2005 recordings were not very nice sounding imo and they seemed to stop bootleggers from recording the concerts and therefore trading too.  Some of the best recordings from Europe 2010 are audience and have a good mix, but there are hardly any because of the Simfy deal.

A soundboard recording is always better than audience recordings. I dont know why you say that Simfy and Crowfly recordings were not nice sounding, I find all of them great. Its true that some of the mixes are not the best, but they are soundboards, it means that the acoustic of the venue, the mics, the recorders etc doesnt have a role in how it sounds, sometimes we have crap audience recordings, sometime good ones, but soundboards are always better.

The soundboards like Simfy and Crowfly were compressed and the mix didn't sound good IMHO.

These days, I think nearly all audience recordings are very good to brilliant in terms of quality.  Oh dear, I've a lot to live up to when I attempt mine next year now!

The main issue though was the effect it had on the number of people recording the gigs.  Hardly anyone recorded the gigs when they knew they were available on Simfy and, of course they weren't traded so if you wanted to hear all the concerts you had to purchase overpriced, poor sounding, poorly mixed downloads instead of a free, nice sounding audience recording.  Long live the bootleggers!

i did, every show i went to
i want the mug, the live recordingS and at least 1 RAH live Bluray with rehearsals. and yes i am serious.

[sweetsurrender]

I wouldn't have much to say in terms of merchandising, there's no shows in the US anyway.  But I'm sure some nice AMIT members would assist me in securing some next year.

I agreed on a tour T-shirt with Mark and one of his magnificient guitars preferably a red strat for me with tour dates in the back in  different colors.  white, black red, grey, blue, yellow etc.  I love wearing T-shirts with both Mark's name and picture on it.  It's sooo cool.  Keychain like the one during GL tour is nice. It has to be better design though, because the one I got during GL broke already after only a few months.  Good thing I bought two of them. 

And of course a LIVE DVD for fans who couldn't attend the shows.  Unfortunately there will be plenty of them next year.

[PixelPerfect]

... A DVD for every show means great expenses, a crew in every show to capture the show, mixing, post production, mastering etc. I don't think numbers (sales) would actually help...

Arrgh if I had the freaking FORTUNE of money that MK has, I'd fund the whole damned thing myself! What the heck is the point of having any excess of money at all if it's not gonna be used for something meaningful? This would have meaning for soooo many people... and for me it's certainly more meaningful than "investing" in art as a commodity, or whatever the reasoning for buying an art gallery is.

[knopflerized]

A MK teddy bear 

[IrisRose]

I just want the programme and a quality pin/badge.    The Get Lucky one was cheap.   Some of the older ones are fantastic.     I do like the t shirts, but I never wear them.   I should.   But I don't.

[knopflerized]

I don't like t-shirt with "face" (whoever it is) on it...
For exemple I loved the Get Lucky Lady fit (the grey one) and the red lady fit shangri la! I do wear my MK Tshirts often (but then men fit only for sleeping or for sport ...)
Maybe we could have a book with all the promo pics...
And indeed again some smify recordings.... and a live DVD !!!

[superval99]

A guitar pin and a Simfy, or similar,  recording of the shows would be perfect for me!   

[Fieneke2]

A MK teddy bear 

LOL Knopflerized, that is a nice idea!

I also like a book with pictures and information/lyrics of Privateering and the symfy recording! It brings back good memories and of course we need a live DVD of the concerts we attend! That would be a wonderful memory!

I still like my special fan T'shirt, but I am not sure if it still fits after so many years! .....Otherwise I might buy another shirt, but only if there is a beautiful pic on it with Mark or with Mark and the band members!

Fieneke

[nababo]

I would go for:

- a reduced replica of the rusty van we all love (and some love to hate)
- a special cd with all the b-sides, from the day the world has begun
- a sheet music's mega super deluxe book

[nababo]

Oh, and no, I didn't receive the mail too