Merchandise is, colloquially anyways, the engine that drives the boat, the rocket fuel that propels careers toward the stars!

Actually, according to Martin Atkins, author of Welcome To The Music Business, You're F****d!, merchandise is more like "the small hand-cranked trolley that inches up the funicular railway, inch by rusted, mangled inch, up the hill." Merchandise, particularly t-shirts, are the subject of this fun-filled Martin Atkins Minute (actually six fun-filled minutes).

As something like 2,000 bands head to Austin for this year's SXSW, all hoping to make a memorable mark, Martin explains to us why t-shirts matter.


Produced by Martin Atkins, Brad Pack, and Sydney Boone

SFX by Sydney Boone

Recorded / Engineered by Brad Pack

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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