Custom screen printed Rock Posters have always been big in certain music scenes (And will probably continue to be for a very long time). Sadly, the main stream does not share this sentiment, but one day… oh, yes… one day they shall! Whether you’re part of a music scene that embraces the beautiful art of a well-done, screen printed poster or not, they are well worth looking into.

I’ve known people in the past who have been squeamish about spending the money on the posters, whether it was because they are so limited-use, or they just didn’t see the value in them. I can honestly say that I don’t blame you if you have shared this sentiment. I know I have –both back when I used to promote events, and sometimes even now as a screen printer.  The fact is, they aren’t very cost effective as a marketing tool, and they’re certainly not too big of a money-maker for a lot of print shops either.

… but that was BEFORE you started reading cultBLOG!

It has always been interesting to me that high-quality posters/prints can be sold for between $1-5/poster (depending on quantity, # of colors, complexity of registration, etc.) to the band (who then uses them for marketing purposes) and then can be sold on ebay for $20 each after the show. It’s kind of nuts and I’m here to put a stop to it!

By all means, use screen printed posters for your band’s marketing. They look great and demand attention, and all that good stuff… but what I am really concerned about is using the posters as merchandise. It seemed like a few years back, there was some craze that involved art-deco and vintage absinthe posters bedecking the apartments of pretty much everybody I know. I think the time is ripe to do that with rock posters.

If you’re serious about running your band like a business, it’s imperative that you have a diversified offering of merchandise and music for sale. Having a couple rad posters for sale is a great thing to offer at the show, but is also something that would do VERY well online. In addition to your website, you might look into listing some posters on ebay under the art section, possibly getting them listed on Etsy or other indie websites that specialize in hand-made or unique products and perhaps you could even try framing them and trying to get them into local shops.

Any way you cut it, screen printed posters hold the potential for being mid to high-ticket items for bands willing to use them as merch. The other added bonus is they will typically carry a much bigger profit margin compared to the typical 50%-100% mark-up of most merch.