Your Favorite Music Artists Are Being Targeted by Counterfeit Merch Sellers
Merchandise sales are the manna of the independent music world. With no disrespect to the musical efforts of your favorite artist, you can boil them down to glorified T-shirt salespeople in the way the lion’s share of their profits come from the merch table. It’s what puts gas in their tank and food on their table, and allows them to make a respectable living.
That is why it is so treasonous that counterfeit merch has become such a hot business. Now virtually anyone can sell online via 3rd-party platforms like Teespring, Viral Style, Lovely Shirt, plus dozens of others and not have to pay any overhead for product or pressing, not have to verify their identity, and can sell oodles of merch in short pressings while using Facebook, Amazon, and other platforms to promote it. And they do it all at the expense of the artists and bands whose hard work made their merch something the public would desire to purchase in the first place, and is emblazoned with their name and/or likeness. And before anyone can start asking questions or contact either the 3rd party platform or Facebook to report the illegal sales, the merch sale ends, aided by the timed format these 3rd party merch sellers use to entice consumers to impulse buy before the sale ends.
Counterfeiters have become especially brazen lately, exploiting the fact that many independent and traditional country artists have rabid fans bases. Just in the last couple of weeks, Whitey Morgan and Wheeler Walker Jr. have been the victims of counterfeiters.
“Don’t buy sh#t like this,” Whitey’s peeps said Thursday evening (12-22) accompanied by a picture of a T-shirt seller called “Tshirt Amazing” peddling unauthorized Whitey Morgan merch. “Facebook will censor, delete, and supress opinions they don’t agree with, then take money to advertise fake ripoff unauthorized merch. Buy merch from the artist Whitey Morgan and the 78’s, not ripoff Facebook ads.”
On December 12th, foul-mouthed country artist Wheeler Walker Jr. was alerted to illegal merch being sold on Amazon and lashed out on Twitter. “Amazon is selling unoffiicial, illegally made Wheeler merch,” he said, “EVERYONE NEEDS TO STOP FUCKING WITH WHEELER. THIS AGGRESION WILL NOT STAND.”
Earlier this year, Lyle Lovett also let it be know that whomever was selling “Lyle Lovett for President” T-shirts was unauthorized to do so, and he wasn’t seeing any of the money in sales. The fact that illegal, counterfeit T-shirt salespeople aren’t just targeting big mainstream stars, but independent artists with relatively small fan bases shows just how lucrative these operations must be, and how deep and widespread the problem has become.
Heretofore the favorite target for counterfeiters in country music has been country music legends. Counterfeiters set up Facebook groups which can target the news feeds of country music lovers via keywords and demographics, and get ads for their short-run T-shirt sales directly to the people they will appeal to the most. Many of the groups are set up using the names of the country legends they look to exploit. Country fans join the groups thinking they’ll receive news about the artist, and instead get bombarded with ads. But you don’t have to be part of the group to see the ads. They can target anyone who regularly talks about the artist or country music in general through Facebook’s news feed algorithm.
Saving Country Music has been tracking this illegal T-shirt activity throughout 2016. As was explained when exposing the Facebook group We Hate Pop Country for making illegal T Shirt sales, right of privacy laws protect individuals, living or deceased, from people making money off of their name or likeness.
As Chron explains about using celebrity images on T-shirts:
Celebrities who claim their right of privacy can sue to prevent businesses from printing their image on T-shirts without permission. Businesses that legally print celebrity images on promotional items usually have contracts that outline the parameters for using those images, along with any compensation the celebrity is entitled to receive. The right of publicity also limits the use of celebrity images on T-shirts. This right recognizes people’s economic value in relation to their work and creativity. Celebrities have the right to exploit the value of their likeness as they see fit, so the unauthorized use of a celebrity’s image violates his right of publicity. Celebrities who sue companies for using their image without authorization can prevail by proving that their image has commercial value.
These rights also extend to deceased individuals, with the rights being retained by the estates.
Printing images of deceased celebrities on T-shirts without permission may be prohibited if the right of publicity continues following a celebrity’s death. Tennessee, for example, recognizes that celebrities can pass their right of publicity to their surviving relatives. Tennessee was singer Elvis Presley’s home … relatives and others who handle Presley’s estate have control over merchandise bearing his name and image. In California, people handling Marilyn Monroe’s estate acquired the right to use her name and image on merchandise by extending the right of publicity after her death.
Of course that hasn’t stopped sellers like Teespring from selling the illegal merch, or Facebook from advertising it. Since so much money is being made off of these spurious sales, there seems to be no incentive by Facebook and the 3rd party merch formats to shut these operations down. Saving Country Music has reached out to both Teespring and Facebook numerous times for comment or clarification on their policies with no direct response. However Teespring states on their website:
Right of publicity is the right of famous people to control the commercial use of their name or likeness. So Taylor Swift has the right to decide whether her name or face will appear in a product advertisement. Right of publicity is really a subset of the larger right of privacy that applies to all people. In the context of marketing and merchandise, that means each person is entitled to control the use of their name and image in a commercial context. In keeping with right of publicity and privacy laws, Teespring will not be able to print shirts that include the name or likeness of any individual, including celebrities, unless we are instructed otherwise by the individual or their agent.
However these policies by 3rd party merch formats only seem to be a way to alleviate any potential legal burden on themselves and put it on the individual sellers. When contacted to take down the illegal sales, action is rarely taken before the damage is done, and the sales have ended. Many of these merch sales are handled by viral farms using aliases, so no recourse can be taken by the affected parties.
Until 3rd party sellers such as Teespring, Viral Style, Lovely Shirt, and advertisers such as Facebook make effort to shut down these illegal sales, it is up to consumers to starve these sellers by not buying from them. The rule of thumb is simple: Only buy merch directly from the artist or the independent record label of the artist, or an authorized 3rd party seller linked to from the artist’s website, or their official social network properties (with the blue checkmark). Anything else is most likely counterfeit, and the artist won’t receive a dime. In fact it will likely cost them money due to lost sales of their own merch.
After the death of Merle Haggard in April, multiple groups were set up on Facebook to exploit his death via unauthorized merch. The Merle Haggard estate, nor the original artists for the photos used on some of the shirts were compensated, while well-meaning Merle Haggard fans purchased shirts to remember the legend.
Willie Nelson is also a regular target of counterfeiters. Here is a look at some of the listings on 3rd party T-Shirt selling websites using Willie Nelson’s name and likeness without permission. Notice how the listings have time limits. This is used by viral T-shirt sites to stimulate impulse buys, and allows the merch sale to end before too much suspicion can be aroused. One says 1,200 T-shirts have been sold.
Biscuit
December 23, 2016 @ 9:16 am
Somebody looks to be ripping off Margo Price this way on eBay at the moment. Etsy too.
Jim Bob
December 23, 2016 @ 9:25 am
I see that shit on FB all the time. Worst part is some them are pretty cool and I’d consider buying them, but not when I know the artist’ll get all of jackshit from it. If I’m going to pay too much money for a shirt then the artist needs to at least get something out of it.
Bright side, there’ve been more and more people, myself sometimes included, who comment on those FB adds telling everyone it’s an unauthorized scam and nothing goes to the artists. Clearly not solving anything, but can’t be hurting I suppose. Maybe a few people see comments that it’s unauthorized and don’t buy?
Trigger
December 23, 2016 @ 9:35 am
I remember back in the MySpace days (showing my age), when something like this came up, the seller would get shut down so fast and publicly shamed, it wasn’t even an issue. The entire music community rallied around the cause immediately. These days? Ambivalence. I can’t really explain why except maybe a lot of Facebook users have a closet full of this stuff and don’t care. I agree some of the designs are way better than what the artists are selling themselves, but I would feel like a choad going to a show in a fake shirt, talking to the artist after the show wearing a shirt that ripped them off. I’m not sure how we lost control of this issue, but we have. The artists care because it’s money out of their pocket. But many average fans? Meh. Glad to hear you and others are piping up. I’ve seen some of that, but mostly I see likes and shares.
ShadeGrown
December 23, 2016 @ 10:55 am
I have a Dimebag shirt that isn’t official – I have it cause it’s a better shirt than what his estate or Pantera sells. So I either have this shirt that promotes the greatness of my favorite guitar player, or I have no shirt at all. I don’t see how any artist would be better off with fewer promotional tees being worn or even sold… Make cooler shirts if you don’t like it!
Sam Cody
December 23, 2016 @ 9:44 am
The screwing extends beyond the artists too. The photographs that these idiots steal from the internet to use on these shirts are owned and copyrighted by the photographers who also make THEIR livings off legitimate sales and use of their work.
I say we send them all to a rougher version of Gitmo.
Trigger
December 23, 2016 @ 9:51 am
If Jim Marshall had a dime for every T-shirt his Johnny Cash middle finger photo showed up on unauthorized merch, he could buy and sell all of our asses.
Sam Cody
December 23, 2016 @ 9:56 am
Ha! You ain’t kiddin’!
Jacob Ware
December 23, 2016 @ 10:00 am
Trigger you might consider pulling those images, though not intended youre kinda advertising for them. I promise you someone will read this article and go buy a shirt. The problem is, like the above poster stated some of them are pretty cool, and not everybody who frequents this site or sees this will care since the internet is anonymous. You’re kinda putting a lot of faith in principles I guess. Just a thought, I have attended quite a few musical events this past year and I see a lot of folks that will buy anything to fit in with this crowd. This is not an attack on anyone.
I bought a 30$ Turnpike Troubadours shirt for my wife at last concert, you can get it for $12 on amazon from China. I bought, just a few months ago from this China seller, a Marshall tucker band shirt. I regret it, but couldn’t find it anywhere else and at the time didn’t consider the effects outlined in this article. I did give them 1 star and trashed them because it was terrible quality and I didn’t bother to find out it came from China(tooke 45 days to arrive). Just being honest.
Since I don’t have Facebook or anything I didn’t know about this other stuff. But you know whitey Morgan has one of the coolest brands and designs out there, buyt if you go to his website most of the shirts kinda suck IMO, atleast compared to his album covers. Hellbound glory never update their site and they also have great designs, but there t shirts suck too. Cody jinks sold out of shirts imn decent sizes and hasn’t updated in months. These guys need to strike while the iron is hot and update their merchandise. But I 100% agree with you, just showing another perspective.
Trigger
December 23, 2016 @ 10:56 am
The reason I included the images is so folks know what to be on the lookout for. If you used Facebook often, which is where the epicenter of this is, it might make more sense. I don’t think someone’s going to see something here and then run off and purchase it. Not saying it isn’t a possibility, but I think the images are more powerful in spreading awareness.
NPC
December 23, 2016 @ 10:06 am
If these apparel sellers would institute a waiting/approval period before allowing these sales to go live, that would help tremendously. Even going as far as setting up a filtering system where celebrity names are automatically flagged would be of benefit. However, as long as these apparel sellers are getting a percentage of the sales from the copyright-infringing merchandise, they have no incentive to shut it down. It will probably take a few lawsuits from the affected celebrities or their estates to put a stop to it on these platforms.
Andrew
December 23, 2016 @ 12:51 pm
I agree that this is a big problem, but it could be helped if bands sold better shirts themselves. That won’t fix this problem, but a lot of bands hardly sell any cool merch. For example, Lynyrd Skynyrd isn’t currently selling any cool shirts on their website. But there are a TON of awesome(unauthorized) shirts for sale online that I would like to buy. Of course, the Skynyrd guys don’t need any more money, so that’s different than ripping off an underground country band.
Andrew
December 23, 2016 @ 12:54 pm
I forgot to add this in my comment- another option for fans who want a cooler shirt than the ones being sold by the band is making it for yourself. It’s really easy to design your own shirt and have it made, it doesn’t even cost you that much.
Mike W.
December 23, 2016 @ 1:19 pm
It would be nice if the RIAA would actually spend some of their lobbying dollars towards shutting down these types of operations, rather than constantly buying off US politicians in order to help save their failing industry. Of course, that would benefit the Artists in question, rather than the record companies and we know full well they don’t care about doing that.
Lil Dale savin county music comentar of the yeer 2014 2015
December 23, 2016 @ 4:59 pm
I do not give a damm if yall dont like fans maken a lil cash from there fan arts its a way to show appresheashen to the artest so wut if millionairs like shooter dont get there cut off the top suns n dawters of nashville they aint goin hungry trigg
Id also like to call for a end to. The soviet style censorship around here by removin Lil Dale from the moderation list and formally invitin Clint back to scm with hat n hand
Trigg yur the best!
Merry Christmas yall!
WestTexasRain
December 23, 2016 @ 9:26 pm
That Willie with a guitar shirt is nice. Anyways I seen this before on eBay seems to be a shit load of people doing this.
RemixLyfe
December 23, 2016 @ 10:25 pm
Whitey better not go throwing too many stones when his house is literally built on the back of Bandit Brand who skirts juuuuust below the threshold of likenesses with lyric t-shirts; like a Heart of Gold shirt in the style of the Harvest cover. If he thinks Neil or his people wouldn’t have a problem with that, he’s got another thing coming. Or the Waylon estate with a Lonesome, Onry & Mean shirt.
Same goes for the Vinyl Ranch folks. You want to do right by artists you pay them, whether it’s using their likeness or their lyric or even a kernel of their idea you took to make that shirt/poster/sticker.
Cecil
December 23, 2016 @ 10:41 pm
Not a big fan of Facebook but I frequent Instagram and trust me when I say it’s all over Instagram as well. Daily I get followed and my photos commented on by these kinds of illegitimate companies/pages
marc
December 23, 2016 @ 11:02 pm
Could anyone here point me in the direction of a Keith Whitley shirt???
Jacob Ware
December 24, 2016 @ 7:08 am
Looked everywhere, can’t find licensed Keith Whitley merch. Only the above mentioned stuff.
scottinnj
December 24, 2016 @ 6:11 am
i can see why it is hard for an artist to play whac-a-mole with all these sites, but you would think at least those on the large record label, who can invest in bots/cease-and-desist orders etc would keep this down. Most branded goods companies face the challenges of counterfeit goods every day.
Marky Mark
December 24, 2016 @ 8:14 am
Oddly, this reminds me of the way the banks used to turn their back when someone would steal your ATM or credit card information. It used to be, in that scenario, the onus was on the consumer to straighten out their credit problems. Ultimately, this is changed, surely due to federal legislation protecting the consumerand putting the burden on the bank to police and enforce the situation. I suspect that if and when this becomes a higher profile issue (which articles like this will help make happen) legislation will be implemented that requires Facebook, Instagram and others to bear the burden of ensuring that the merchandise sold on their sites is legitimate and will penalize them financially if they don’t. Once that happens, the problem will become alleviated to some extent.
dave
December 24, 2016 @ 3:15 pm
I sell merch for Hank jr part time I can remember when back when we used to go out and take the bootleg t shirts away from the guys selling them in the parking lots at the shows, that still happens every once in a while. But there is not much that can be done about this, the average fan don’t even realize how deep this digs into the artist and merch crews pockets I hope this subject gets a lot of exposure so more people are aware because its fucking theft
TheKillerRocksOn
December 24, 2016 @ 8:37 pm
So I’m in the parking lot on my way into a Marilyn Manson show, I know that’s waay off, but here nor there, when a guy comes up to me selling a badazz shirt for 10 bucks. I know its unofficial, but it’s still just 10 bucks. Yes I bought one. I get into the show and find shirts are less badazz and selling for 40 bucks. 40 bucks for a t-shirt…think about that for a second. It comes down to knowing you can earn and not bitching about what you ‘should’ be earning. A concert T is a revenue earning tool, but it is also an advertisement. I’ve had several folks adk me about Scott Biram while I’ve had his shirt on, bought at a show, and possibly gained him a fan or two. Bootlegging is an issue no doubt, but the industry can learn a thing or two about marketing and pricing from it…’Killer out.
ShadeGrown
December 25, 2016 @ 7:00 am
To take this a step further, I have seen Hank3 a dozen times and bought a shirt for myself (and often times another for my wife) at 10 of those shows. I remember paying $15 for a Dick In Dixie shirt back in 2005. His stuff is still pretty affordable cause he won’t allow venues a cut of his merch sales… I have also bought stuff off his website and I have at least 2 copies of every album he has ever released. But if I saw a cool T with a phrase/lyric from one of his songs I would absolutely be buying it and I wouldn’t feel bad about it in the least cause often times when people see me in one of his shirts they say, “I didn’t know there was a 3rd Hank?” This is advertising for these artists and it isn’t always an either or situation when it comes to the purchase. Hank3 sells pretty cool shirts, so I buy from him. But man, some bands out there sell fucking ugly/obnoxious shit and want $35-$40 for it. No thanks. If everything is equal the tie goes to the artist but if not I am still giving them support by free advertising
dave
December 25, 2016 @ 12:24 pm
Most bigger venues get 25% or 30% right off the top of merch sales on a tour
Peggy Marsheck
January 4, 2017 @ 2:03 pm
About a year ago I saw a t-shirt for sale on the web that said “Beer, Jesus and Mother Maybelle Carter”. I knew that none of the Carter heirs would have authorized it. Having known Mrs. Carter, I hit the Contact Us button on the site and sent them an email saying that I knew that Maybelle had a good sense of humor, but that I thought she would be offended by this t-shirt. I asked them to remove the shirt from their catalogue. A day later I heard back from the company and they said they would remove it. They did do that.
Ted
September 18, 2022 @ 6:06 pm
A whole bunch of sellers ripping off lynyrd skynyrd on eBay selling old concert t-shirts that are not original shirts but copies. WHAT A BUNCH OF LYING CROOKS. MAY THE FLEAS OF A THOUSAND CAMEL’S INFEST THEIR UNDERWEAR.
Ted
September 18, 2022 @ 6:19 pm
THE LAW NEEDS TO START JACKING UP THESE MEDIA SITES THAT ALLOW THESE RIPOFF ARTISTS TO THRIVE AND SELLING ALL THESE CHINESE COPIES OF COPYRIGHT ITEMS CHEPO TRASH. CHINA the new MADE IN JAPAN for those old enough to remember when that meant cheap junk.