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Vintage Logos
Custom Drum Heads, Stage Graphics & Band Merch
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Vintage Logos
Custom Drum Heads, Stage Graphics & Band Merch

Vintage Logos Inc – Custom Concert Tees

Category Archives: Music Income

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Vintage Logos Inc – Custom Concert Tees

Posted on May 14, 2025 - 1:07 pm by

Did you know 🎾 that VintageLogos Inc. is your ultimate 🎹 destination for all things related to custom Band T-shirts 👕 and more? We pride ourselves on being your comprehensive solution for all your Band Branding needs, ensuring that your band stands out in style. At VintageLogos, we don’t just stop at T-shirts; we also offer custom drumheads đŸ„ and a wide range of other branding materials to elevate your band’s presence. Whether you’re looking to create a unique image or reinforce your band’s identity, we’ve got you covered. Explore our extensive collection and exceptional services today to discover why VintageLogos is truly your one-stop shop for building your brand. Let us help you bring your creative vision to life with high-quality, custom gear that resonates with your audience. Check us out today and see for yourself why countless bands trust us to help them make their mark in the music world. You rock đŸ€˜, and we’re here to make sure everyone knows it!
#bandbranding #customtshirts #vintagelogos #musicmerch #bandmerch #drumheads

Drumhead mic hole Installations đŸ„

Posted on May 8, 2025 - 1:19 pm by

Drum Head Mic Hole Installations đŸ„ Vintage Logos Inc. is proud to provide a diverse array of microphone hole options tailored specifically for your drumheads, ensuring both functionality and aesthetic appeal. Our offerings include simple hole cuts, as well as the option to add port rings, which we highly recommend to enhance and complete your drumhead’s look. These port rings are available in a variety of colors, including classic black, pristine white, sleek chrome, and luxurious gold, allowing you to match or contrast with your drum kit’s design.

In addition to port rings, we also offer reinforcer rings and Kickports, designed to boost the durability and sound quality of your drumheads. Our online builder is an intuitive tool that guides you step-by-step through the process of creating your next custom printed drumhead, tailored to your specific preferences and style.

At Vintage Logos Inc., precision and quality are our top priorities. We cut hundreds of holes each week, and our dedicated team, including the talented Shawn, works diligently to ensure every drumhead meets our high standards. Our commitment is to make your drumheads not only look great but also perform exceptionally well.

Meet the Vintage Logos Team!

Posted on April 24, 2019 - 12:01 am by

Shawn's Photo

Shawn McNamara (CEO/Creative Director)

When Shawn started Vintage Logos, over 20 years ago, it was a small one man operation that made custom drumheads for local bands.  Today, Vintage Logos has grown into a band branding experience, creating: drumheads, speaker grill cloths, banners and more for bands across the world.

Vintage Logos is proud to have worked with, Universities, Military Bands, Rock & Roll Hall of Famers and even The Rock & Roll Hall of fame its self.  Although Vintage logos has grown and much has changed over the years, one thing has remained the same, Vintage Logos is a Family owned company that puts an emphasis on, as Sean would say, “giving people a custom handmade product that they love”.

Shawn is a family man. He enjoys spending time with his wife Jennifer and is two children, Bella and Brayden. Together, Shawn and Jennifer have seen the world together and built a business.

When Shawn is not producing drumheads or spending time with his family he is experimenting with and adding to his extensive audio equipment collection.

Q: If you could be in any band what band would you be in?

A: “I would be the drummer for Van Halen.”

Jennifers Photo

Jennifer McNamara (Business Operations Manager)

With 20 years of retail management, sales and leadership experience, Jennifer joined her husband Shawn at Vintage Logos in 2004 as Business Operations Manager.  Her masterful execution of  Vintage Logos day to day operations has made a vital impact on the company and has helped make Vintage Logos the success it is today.

From the initial order to the production and logistics of each product, Jennifer works with each customer on a personal level and  strives to create meaningful relationships.  Jennifer often says “Dream big, work hard, stay focused, and surround yourself with good people”. This is the attitude she brings to  work daily, and we are all made a little better by it.

Outside of  work at Vintage Logos Jen spends time with her husband and her two children.

She enjoys going to garage and estate sales to find “Vintage” treasures 

Q: If you could be in any band what band would you be in?

A: “Since I love 80’s dance music, I would say singer for Kool And The Gang!”

 

James Photo

James (Production Artist)

James (Jay for short
 J if you’re just lazy) joined vintage logos with a wealth of experience in production art after working in the screen printing industry for years.  He currently is the man behind the curtain that expertly creates the drumheads, speaker grill cloths, banners, and more.

After each piece has been designed and printed, he goes to handcrafting the finished products that our customers receive.  Driven by his humor he does it with a smile on his face , and he keeps the team smiling as well.

His favorite quote is “I don’t know how many years on this earth I have left. I’m gonna get real weird with it.” – Frank Reynolds, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

When he’s not working at Vintage Logos he moonlights as a Brad Pitt lookalike and/or the lead singer for Matchbox 20.

Q: If you could be in any band what band would you be in?

A: “Menahan Street Band as the bassist so I could play alongside Charles Bradley, or a member of OFWGKTA because Those boys are wild”.

Michael (Graphic Designer)

Michael is the newest addition to the team. Having worked as a brand strategist and graphic designer for 6 years, Michael is now putting his talents to work for Vintage Logos.  Michael works side by side with Shawn to create custom artwork, drumheads, speaker grill cloths and more.   He also creates social media content to promote Vintage Logos and share our custom work with all of our loyal customers. 

His favorite quote is “There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.” – Abraham Lincoln

When he is not working at Vintage Logos,  Michael enjoys creating artwork of his own.  He also enjoys learning and playing his favorite songs on the guitar.

Q: If you could be in any band what band would you be in?

A: “I would play guitar for AC/DC.”

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read about our team, we hope that you feel like you’ve gotten to know us a little better. When you call into our office, you are going to reach one of us and we will help you every step of the way branding your band. Please do not hesitate to give us a call!

The Basics Of Keeping A DIY Music Budget

Posted on February 12, 2019 - 2:00 am by 2
DIY music budget

Money is stressful. Actually, not having any is stressful. And when you’re on a DIY music budget, you may not have quite enough for that new Tesla.

However, you can do just fine as an indie musician, you just have to know how to keep your finances in order.

So here are the basics of keeping a budget as a musician.

Be Thrifty

The first thing to remember is to avoid spending money you don’t absolutely need to spend. Be thrifty.

“Thrifty” doesn’t mean buying only cheap things. It means finding good products for less. It’s all about balancing quality and cost.

So if you need a decent-looking music video, you can use a newish smartphone, some friends, and a great idea.

Or if you need some recording equipment, browse through the used section of Amazon, check out CraigsList or the Facebook Marketplace, or even hit up your local thrift store. You never know what you’ll find.

And if you need custom drum heads, speaker grill cloths, or stickers, we got you covered. When it comes to custom products, we offer super affordable prices.

Keep Your Income Streams Separate

If you’re a part-time musician, you have your personal income from your day job and your music income from shows, streaming royalties, sync licensing payments, etc.

And it’s very important to separate your personal income and your music income.

Here are just a few reasons why you should keep things separate:

  • Taxes will be get confusing
  • Personal income and music income could get mixed up
  • It helps you keep the mentality that music is a career/business you’re building

So to help keep your different incomes in line, it’s a good idea to open a separate bank account solely for your music income. Make sure it’s a free checking account with no balance requirements or annoying fees.

This way, you’ll look and feel more like a business, which is what your music career is.

Don’t Forget About Taxes!

Uncle Sam needs a slice of your pie. So you better set it aside for him.

With the free checking account you’ll have for music income (see above), the bank will probably offer a free savings account as well. You can use that savings account to set aside money for taxes.

It depends on your age, filing status, and how much money you made from music. But, just to be safe, it would be smart to set aside 20-30% of your income to save for taxes.

I know that’s a big chunk, but you may not actually need to pay that much in taxes — heck, you may even get a refund. So you can then reinvest that 20-30% back into your music career.

If you want more tips on paying taxes as a musician, check out TurboTax’s guide The Musician’s Guide to Taxes: Top Tax Deductions.

– – –

Caleb J. Murphy is a songwriter and producer based in Austin, TX. He’s also the founder of Musician With A Day Job, a blog that helps part-time musicians succeed.

How Much Should You Charge For Your Music?

Posted on November 19, 2018 - 3:52 pm by
how much money should you charge for your music?

When it comes to finances and figuring our rates, musicians usually have a lot of questions. One question is, how much should you charge for your music?

We’re going to tackle that question, providing a clear and practical way to figure out your rates as a musician.

How Musicians Make Money Nowadays

Music fans are just about over buying CDs as most people just stream music on Spotify or Apple Music, but the per-stream payout is pretty low. Unless you’re getting millions of plays, streaming is mainly to make sure your name and music are everywhere.

There is a decent-sized subculture centered around vinyl records, but, as of this writing, it’s not mainstream. Plus, pressing your music to vinyl is very expensive.

And even though there are plenty of ways to make money as a musician, like sync licensing and fan patronage, the main way most musicians make money is by playing shows. A lot of artists make a big chunk of their money from merch sales, which mostly happen at shows.

So that leads us to the question, “How much should I charge for my shows?”

Questions To Ask Yourself

Inevitably, that question of how much to charge for playing a gig leads to more questions.

What’s the venue? What type of gig is it? Is it a private or public event? Is it for a charity or nonprofit? Have any of your musician friends played this gig before? If so, what did they charge?

These are all good and necessary questions, but really the one you should start with is, “How much do I want to be making per year?” From there, you can break it all down and get a better picture of how much to charge for each show.

So let’s break it down.

How To Figure Out Your Rates

If you’re looking to make (or continue making) music your career, you’ll need to know what your rates are. Maybe you already have rates. But maybe you can adjust your rates (and make more money).

Here’s a step-by-step guide for figuring out your rates (thanks in large part to performer Chris Holder):

  1. What do you want your gross annual income to be?
  2. Add about 30% for music expenses
  3. Add enough to cover any insurances you want
  4. Add enough for sick/vacation days
  5. Add the amount you want to contribute to your retirement account for the year
  6. Add another 5% to be invested back into your music
  7. Add about 20% to set aside for taxes
  8. Divide whatever number you end up with by the number of days you plan to work this year (remember that you’ll have some office days where you don’t directly earn anything)

And there you have it. After step #8, you should know the amount of money you need to make each week and each day. So if you play two shows a week, those two shows will need to make enough money for the week (assuming your only income is from gigs).

Finding The Right Venues

The next step is to figure out what kind of venues you want to perform in. And that leads us to more questions.

In what context do you thrive onstage? What types of venues do the most people show up to? Who can afford to pay you your rates?

These questions lead to answers and answers lead to solutions and solutions lead to you making money as a musician.

– – – –

Caleb J. Murphy is a songwriter and producer based in Austin, TX. He’s also the founder of Musician With A Day Job, a blog that helps part-time musicians succeed.

5 Famous Musicians Who Once Had Day Jobs

Posted on October 17, 2018 - 12:01 am by
Kurt Cobain

It’s easy to forget that some of our favorite rockers and musical idols are normal people. They didn’t just fall from heaven and begin making music. They’re humans like the rest of us.

And one reminder of their humanness is that many of the big names in the music world once had day jobs. They lived paycheck to paycheck, coming up with creative ways to make money.

Here are five of those famous musicians who once held down a “regular” job.

Art Garfunkel (Simon & Garfunkel) – Math Teacher

Some people say Art Garfunkel road the coat tail of Paul Simon, that Simon was more talented. That may be true, but Garfunkel could probably crush Simon in a math competition.

The falsetto-singing half of Simon & Garfunkel was attending Columbia University when the duo was signed to Columbia Records in 1964. He completed his undergraduate degree in Art History (yes, that’s funny because his name is also Art) and then actually earned a master’s degree in Math Education.

Oh, and he did this while touring and recording.

In 1970, the two men split after their No. 1 hit “Bridge Over Troubled Water” came out. And what did Garfunkel do? Go back to teaching math of course. He spent two years teaching until he returned to making music for a living.

Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) – Janitor

Kurt Cobain (yes, THE Kurt Cobain) was once a janitor for Lemon’s Janitorial Service. It’s strange to imagine him scrubbing toilets and mopping floors now that we’ve seen him rock on stage and heard his hit songs.

But’s it’s true. In the book Cobain On Cobain, he describes grunge from the perspective of a janitor.

“It’s a fine mixture of cleaning solvents, not to be used in the toilet,” he said. “When I was a janitor I used to work with these guys Rocky and Bullwinkle. They’d clean the toilet bowls with their bare hands and then eat their lunch without washing their hands. They were very grungy.”

Freddie Mercury (Queen) – Used Clothing Salesman

Fred Bulsara (aka Freddie Mercury), along with his future bandmate Roger Taylor, sold used clothing at a place called Kensington Market in Ontario. They also sold Freddie’s paintings.

After Queen’s self-titled album blew up on the charts, the now famous Mercury kept working at that stall in Kensington Market.

“We sold clothes and bric-a-brac and just about managed to earn enough to keep the band ticking along,” Taylor said.

David Bowie – Delivery Boy For A Butcher

Back when Ziggy Stardust was only 13 years old, he got a job as a delivery boy for a butcher. He had to pay for his saxophone lessons somehow.

So if it weren’t for that job with a butcher, Bowie may have never become who he was. And years later, he reunited with his saxophone teacher, the legendary Ronnie Ross, on a song Bowie produced for Lou Reed called “Walk On The Wild Side.” Ross got a solo in the song.

Kanye West – Gap Sales Assistant

When Yeezus was just a teenager, he worked at Gap, like many of his peers. Can you imagine going into a Gap, having a boy named Kanye help you, then one day seeing that boy on TV rapping about his experience at that Gap?

He did just that in his song “Spaceship”:

If my manager insults me again I will be assaulting him

After I f**k the manager up then I’m gonna shorten the register up

Let’s go back, back to the Gap

Look at my check, wasn’t no scratch

So if I stole, wasn’t my fault

Yeah, I stole, never get caught

What’s The Takeaway Here?

I guess the point of this article is this: even if you come from humble beginnings, you can reach the success you desire. 

Even if you work a dead-end job, that doesn’t mean your dreams have a dead end.

Many famous musicians know this to be true, and so should we.

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