Trump's Trade "Deals" Already Affecting The Music Industry At Large

Many bands and artists new and old are being affected by the trade war tariffs of the trump administration. Some including musicians and bands such as The Callous Daoboys and Brian Fair, frontman of Shadows Fall and the Music Wholesale Distributor St. Louis Music.

First, let's talk about this affects you, the consumer. Vinyl and PVC prices will most likely cost more to import into the US. This has now made making records impossible to make or ship for cheap. A great example of this came from The Callous Daoboys, who posted this screenshot to their socials earlier this month:

Shipping to the USA and most major trade markets will get more expensive even with some tariffs being paused. Most major fabric importers will make it harder for screenprinting shops to make merch from China (34%) , Vietnam (46%) and India (26%). While through research, union and USA made merch is much as little bit more costly than importing and sometimes cheaper; but most bands don't know this. They will often go with the less expensive option. While I wish most people would go with union made merch, most bands on labels can't control how there merch is sourced, meaning that tariff is then pushed on the consumer. I do, however, see these tariffs as an opportunity to source ethical merch.

Instruments will be next to be affected by tariffs, according to Brian Fair, frontman of Shadows Fall and sales representative of St. Louis Music. On Threads, he posited:

"We have tried to avoid increases where ever possible but a lot of it is unavoidable". "Some of these brands used to be made in the US but that priced them entirely out of the market so production shifted to overseas many years ago.

"I work directly with Main St. brick and mortar music stores, some that are barely scraping by. These increases, no matter how small, will make it even more difficult for these stores to survive.

Brian Fair (@brianshadfall) on Threads

I work for a company that owns a variety of instruments brands: guitars, percussion, orchestral strings, brass, woodwinds etc. our landing costs have sky rocketed and those costs are being turned into higher prices that will be unfortunately be handed down to the consumers. We have tried to avoid increases where ever possible but a lot of it is unavoidable. Some of these brands used to be made in the US but that priced them entirely out of the market so production shifted to overseas many years

Threads

We can only hope and bear the storm and fight back against the one of many of this current administration's failures.