Tour merchandise has always been popular, but Odd Future takes it to the next level (though they're not the only artists to experiment with this kind of thing). Rather than just selling cheap t-shirts at a massive markup from a table in the venue, they turn it into a whole companion experience to the show, and offer merch that's actually one-of-a-kind. The Odd Future kids are naturals at connecting with fans, and this shows how they also combine that with a bundle of different reasons to buy. Well-known for shirking the establishment in every way imaginable, Odd Future doesn't seem to care too much about record sales, and they definitely don't care about piracy or competing with free—they've found a new way of doing things, and it's working.

Note: let's not turn this into a debate about the morality/merits of Odd Future's music. For that, head over to Tim Cushing's excellent post on Lost In The Sound.

Best says his original contract with Warners entitled him to 5% of merchandising revenue from products that featured his identity, or 2.5% of total revenue for merchandise when other cast members were incorporated. The agreement purportedly covers not only the initial run on television, but also is said to give him "financial participation in spinoffs."

• Lzzy starts solo with a guitar around her neck and a mic, just singing acapella. Long notes, killer voice. She has people cheering for her before the rest of the band even walks out on stage. Before her voice gets hidden behind the rock, she lets 'em know she can sing and you can see people are impressed straight away.
• The rest of the band appears and they tear through a few songs. It's straight-ahead rock, on the heavy side but ready for pop radio. Everyone in the band is high-energy and engaging, even Lzzy's brother Arejay on drums is standing up for parts of the songs and just generally being a showman.
• Mid-way through the set Lzzy announces they have a new record coming out in a few weeks but you can buy a pre-release of it now for $5 at the merch stand.
• There's a drum solo-y part that doesn't go on long and ends with the entire band at the front of the stage playing drums and the crowd cheering as they go crazy with it.
• During the last song Lzzy reminds them that they have their own merch stand upstairs and CDs for only $5. She also says the whole band is going to be up there after their set and that she wants to meet everyone.
• I head over to the merch stand after the show and watch their tour manager relieve the woman who runs the merch table so she can disappear into the crowd below with a box of CDs with "Halestorm CDs $5" written on it.
• The merch stand is mobbed. It's surrounded by people and they are selling merch literally as fast as their tour manager can manage.
• The band appears (after breaking down their own stage setup) and meets and talks to as many people as possible, while helping to sell their merch.
• Free stickers list their MySpace page, etc.

We took in well over $1000 in CD sales, double what we would on an average night. We normally sell 3 Full Lengths at $15 each and an EP at $5.

We sold a total of 84 CD’s averaging almost $12 per CD!

Last night we were in Jackson Hole, the trend continued, proving another good night. Where we sold 48 CD’s and averaged almost $11 a CD.

We are moving more product than we normally would and in average making more than what our CD were to sell on iTunes or a record store.