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How Rising Tariffs Are Shaking Up the Music Merch Business: ‘I Almost Had a Heart Attack’
Here's how Trump's tariffs are affecting the music merch industry, as many companies and artists tap manufacturers in China for their goods.
As with industries that manufacture and ship smartphones, aluminum foil, car parts and toasters, artist-merch companies like Absolute are scrambling to predict the Trump administration’s final number on Chinese tariffs and figure out how to transfer production to alternative countries. Brent Rambler, guitarist for hard-rock band August Burns Red, which runs its own merch operation, is avoiding the tariff uncertainty, refusing to “proactively raise our prices” and risk turning off fans in the long term. Reached by phone while driving from St. Louis to Kansas City in a van stuffed with cardboard merch boxes, Evan Thomas Weiss, frontman of Pet Symmetry, says the emo band pays $13 to $15 to print a T-shirt, plus more on transportation and other expenses, then sells it for $30 at a show in order to make a small profit.
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