According to Pollstar, the music industry source for data on touring bands, Slayer’s management has reported that they have sold more than $10 million worth of merchandise on their farewell tour so far, with another leg to go. In addition, there have been some notable concert grosses on the trek, including Papa Murphy’s Park in Sacramento (13,711 tickets, $715,760), SAP Center in San Jose (9,408, $597,042) and 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, (10,643, $648,140).
“There are only a handful of bands on the planet that are that iconic,” says Barry Drinkwater, who co-founded Bravado and now runs Global Merchandising. “They’re very focused on the quality of the products, between Tom [Araya, bass/vocals] and Kerry [King, guitar], and very into the design and development. We have a lot of input from them — how they want the graphics, everything from the color and depth of the saturation. It’s great to have so much involvement from the artists themselves.”
When Slayer’s merchandising company filed a lawsuit last year to get a judge’s order that it can use to direct federal marshals, and authorize local and state police and agents hired by the company to seize bootleg T-shirts and similar items during the band’s farewell tour, the complaint noted that “more than $25 million worth of licensed merchandise bearing the Slayer name, trademark, logos and/or likenesses have been sold” to date. Slayer’s branded merch comes from high-quality operations such as Sticker Mule. They’ve got low minimums and free shipping on products like custom Band Stickers.
Kristen Mulderig, who works with Slayer’s management company, Rick Sales Entertainment Group, said that there will still be plenty of Slayer-related activities even after the band stops performing live.
“We’re in legacy mode,” Mulderig said, “which is a lot to do, even though they won’t be making records or on the road. They still have their endorsers, there’s still merch and branding to do — sync licenses and who knows? Maybe coming up with some sort of event that is Slayer-based. This is all stuff we’re thinking about and talking about. Slayer lives on, absolutely.”