Loudest of Love (An Empires Post)

A couple of weeks ago, I read this Alternative Press article about how bands don't make any money. They mention that the best thing you can do to financially support a band is to go to a show and buy a t-shirt while you're there. The article made me feel horribly guilty for not spending money on music. I don't really go to shows and I don't want band t-shirts (so not my style to wear things with designs, plus I only wear v-necks) or other merch (I'm not into buying stuff these days). And yet, I really want to financially support bands I support in other ways. lakeeffectgirl pointed out that Empires has a donate button on this page of their website (it's hidden waaaaay at the bottom under the Twitter box, and the layout breaks and hides it in Chrome), so I gave them some money. This resulted in not one but two thank-you notes (possibly from a template, but definitely not auto-generated as they came one and two days after I donated), one from management and one from Tom. This is part of why I adore this band; they are truly that sweet and that dedicated to being close to their fans. If you want more than just a thank you for your money, you can buy some of their merch or one of Tom's prints. (If you like Tom's style but not any of the specific prints there, he does rotate them - as soon as one sells out, he puts up something new. You can follow him on Twitter or his blog/tomconradsyn to see when he puts up something new.) You should also read lakeeffectgirl's post which says all this more fervently and more eloquently than I just did.

There is also an easy, non-financial way you can support Empires. They are one of sixteen bands in a contest to be the first unsigned band on the cover of Rolling Stone. However you feel about Rolling Stone as a publication, this is awesome exposure for Empires. Go here and give them five stars. If you have access to multiple computers with different IP addresses, vote from all of them!

And if Empires isn't your speed, then take this opportunity to support whatever bands or artists are your speed. As Tom's header says, "Buy art, even if it's not from here." ♥