Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508110050
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: F.J. GALLAGHER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
To their millions of fans, the Grateful Dead were more than a rock band, they were a way of life. And to music industry professionals, they were one of the biggest marketing empires ever.
With the death of band leader Jerry Garcia on Wednesday, retailers of merchandise related to the band already are facing a huge increase in demand.
``It's unfortunate that it happens that way, but it always seems to happen,'' said Brad Dupree, a spokesman for the Charlotte, N.C.- based Record Exchange stores, which carry a sizable chunk of the Dead's many recordings. ``Some of our stores have already experienced a big swell in demand in all formats.''
Just a day after Garcia's death, some of the chain's 12 stores in Virginia and North Carolina had sold out of Grateful Dead recordings - even used LPs, Dupree said.
``It's the same thing as Nirvana, as morbid as it sounds,'' said Michelle Cordle, Record Exchange Roanoke region district manager, referring to the huge increase in record sales that occurred when Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of the Seattle band, died in 1994. ``They [Grateful Dead CDs] started moving yesterday after people heard the news. We'll stock more because of customer demand."
In fact, Cordle said, Garcia had just released two songs on the soundtrack of the Miramax film ``Smoke.''
Yet CD sales never played a major role in the Dead's sustained popularity, which was based on a seemingly endless regimen of concert tours. The band generated tour revenues that placed it in the five top-grossing acts every year since 1991, bringing in more than $45 million in 1994, according to Pollstar, a music industry trade publication. The Grateful Dead encouraged fans to tape shows, and trafficking in the homemade bootleg recordings continues.
Band members also pursued successful solo careers. Guitarist Bob Weir is scheduled to play at the Strawberry Hill Amphitheater in Richmond on Aug. 18. Approximately 6,000 tickets in the 10,000-seat venue remained unsold when Garcia died Wednesday.
But by Thursday morning, box office manager Renee Kodenski said people were clamoring for the $15.50-$25 concert tickets.
Manufacturers of traditional Grateful Dead-related merchandise, such as T-shirts and stickers, also braced for an explosion in sales.
Brandon Mitchell, owner of the Tie Dye Guy store in Roanoke, said the licensed distributor from whom he buys Dead merchandise told him that the next couple of days would be extremely busy.
``I was kind of understocked in Jerry stuff,'' Mitchell said Thursday. ``I only had four T-shirts, and they went yesterday.''
But, Mitchell said, most people calling the store seemed to be more interested in expressing their feelings about Garcia's death.
``We've been getting a lot of phone calls, and it's not so much business. It's more caring,'' he said. ``But there has been an increase in demand. I wish there weren't, but that's not going to happen.''
The Grateful Dead business empire ranges far beyond traditional items such as CDs, T-shirts and stickers.
According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Garcia endorsed a vast array of products, including Levi's jeans, Ben & Jerry ice cream, neckties and wetsuits.
Davidson's, a Roanoke-based menswear chain, used to stock the ties, a spokesman said, but sales petered out after the novelty wore off. The store stopped carrying them a year and a half ago.
``The business slowed down, and nobody was buying them,'' buyer Jeff Whitt said. ``We just sort of let them go.''
But if the couple of days following Garcia's death are any indication, it appears that many consumers are not ready to let the Grateful Dead go.
by CNB