I’m going to tell you about why I think Amulights are next level band merch, but first I need to be transparent with you: I am affiliated with The Lightbox Project. On one hand there is an inherent bias in my exultant review, and yet on the other hand I have special insider knowledge that I will share with you later in this article that you may find valuable. Hopefully the two cancel out.
THE NEED
My discovery of the Lightbox Project began through a mutual friend that connected me with Brandon (owner of LBP) when I was looking for a customized piece of lighting to bring on stage when my band innerouter would play. Since customized lighting/art is Brandon’s specialty (he creates light-up signage for brands and art installs for festivals etc), the conversation proved fruitful and we’ve been collaborating ever since.
For musical artists such as myself, selling merchandise is one of the more lucrative ways of generating income. The industry has traditionally relied on the age-old staples of t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, sometimes even water bottles, and it’s rare to see anything novel (ex: Tenacious D’s cum rag). This has been a constant pain point for me and my artist friends over many years and why when I came across the Amulight it got my attention.
VISUAL and VIRAL
Where is the best place to sell music merch? The obvious answer is at shows. You have a room full of people that are fans of music, and they’re in a music mood. These fans are primed to buy and very likely to check out the shirts and badges their peers are wearing of their favorite artists, either to validate their own taste or possibly discover something new. A cool shirt design will get noticed if you’re close enough and the light isn’t too dim, yet it pales in comparison to anything that glows or lights up.
This is where the Amulight comes in. Like a beacon in the darkness, it pulls people in to ask what it is and where it’s from. Naturally, a proud fan will flip the Amulight around and let them scan the embedded QR code that takes them to our band site, which is a lot slicker than trying to shout over the music (“The band is called EAR HOUR?!” :P). In a nutshell, we have a merch item that not only draws attention, but also can share my band with others on the spot. Pretty cool!
AUTHENTIC
One of my biggest concerns when ordering items that I plan to resell is quality. Because I’m nurturing life-long relationships with my fans, the last thing I want to do is sell them crap, since that will be the last sale I ever make. A lot of items these days, especially electronics, get outsourced overseas where products tend to be made hastily at scale rather than with quality in mind, and it’s difficult/impossible to know what’s going on behind the scenes at the manufacturers we’re ordering from.
This is where my special access comes in: I can confirm that the entire Amulight product gets manufactured in one location by hand (and CNC machine) by excellent humans that care about the happiness of their customers. The quality and attention to detail is high, and if there is ever an issue it gets addressed quickly and generously. You can rest easy knowing that you’re not getting scammed or dealing with greaseballs that don’t give a shit about the music scene.
CONCLUSION
I’ve gotten the Amulights for my band because there is really nothing comparable out there, it makes us stand out, our fans so far have been loving it, and it’s going to help spread the word about us. Maybe ask me in a couple years how I feel about it, but right now to me it’s a game changer!
