Misplaced Recordings Transcript

 Transcript - 30/3/2021

What is Misplaced all about and what is the brand ethos?

So Misplaced Recordings is a label putting out deep, minimal and lofi house and all the artists we get on board are either friends or artists who have gotten to know our label over time and want to join the community of artists producers and creatives. 

We try get sound, friendly, people who I can rely on and want to invest time and money into. 

When did Misplaced launch? 

We started planning in August 2018 and launched in April 2019. 

What is your current process when designing and producing a new piece of merchandise?

I have some smaller independent t-shirt makers and screen printers that I stick to. Although one of them actually went bust during the pandemic which was a reoccurring theme in the manufacturing industry lately. A lot of my suppliers went out of business during the last year so I’ve had to go to more commercial screen printers. So the people I get our products screen printed from now aren’t the same as a year ago. This could be down to a number of reasons such as commercial manufacturers being able to charge less for products, decrease in demand, increase in living costs. Theres a lot of factors in play. 

If I’m going to get a t-shirt made for example, I try and find a sample of the fabric first to see what it feels like and examine the quality. Over the years of running labels I’ve tried to always up the quality of the products. The more premium the product feels, there’s a higher chance of the customer being satisfied and make another purchase. 

With the designs I do myself 

Importance

At least in the music scene, there’s so little money in releasing music these days. Mainly because no one needs to download music anymore and Spotify paying so little. So Merch is a way for true fans to show their support to the artists. When they show it off on social media it works as free promo for us while also helping us fund future products and projects. 

Pros/cons manufactures

Independent manufactures tend to have better communication and relationships with the designers and labels they work with. Usually if you stay with them for a while they’re willing to do deals and give discounts. However more mainstream, commercial manufactures are more reliable in terms of output. If there’s any mistakes with an order you have more bargaining power to get these items replaced or refunded. Unfortunalty a lot of independent manufactures don’t have the resources or funds to replace faulty stock, but they state all of that in their contracts. The quality of the products isn’t that much different, however commercial manufactures will be able to turn out the products a lot faster. In terms of brands ethics it really varies. Most independent manufacturers don’t really touch on it, whereas commercial use ethical sourcing and low carbon footprints as a selling point. 

How did you ensure a profit?

£5.20 a piece - sold for £10 before shipping. 

How has Misplaced Recordings death with copyright in terms of designs? 

So we released a PALACE inspired hoodie let year and we got contacted by their legal team saying we had to take it down. We took down all the imagery to play it safe for the time being. We then researched though all of their trademarks and all of the copyrights they own. We came to realise that we weren’t infringed on any of it and found a grey area in terms of what we could copyright and produce as PALACE don’t own as much as they make out to. We knew that we weren’t going to sell these products on commercial scale and only produce a very limited run of them, so we found this legal loophole that we could work around. I wouldn’t recommend brands doing something like this, however with habit of research it’s relatively easy to find out what you can and can’t do. We’ve also made this design accessible to people who might not be able to afford designer pieces like PALACE.  

How should a brand promo merch?

I think making sure you’re taking interesting photos of your products is key. For one t-shirt design from my last record label I got my nan to model it. I liked the juxtaposition of that heavy techno label being portrayed by my sweet little nana was really eye catching. Social media is such a fast paced network, so you need to ensure that your products and branding is standing out amongst the rest. Sometimes your merchandise will speak for itself or your fans will help carry it.