Band Shirt Day Fund from MerchFriends.org

MerchFriends, has once again joined forces with Spotify for the second annual Band Shirt Day (#BandShirtDay) on Friday September 15th, 2023. A celebration of the iconic “band tee” and a global fundraising initiative, uniting artists, fans and the music industry at large. Additional event partners include Hello Merch, Bandsintown, Rough Trade, and WASTOIDS.

Some of last year’s Band Shirt Day participants: AJJ, Angel Olsen, Best Coast, Billy Strings, Black Pumas, Blondie, Buck Cherry, Bush, Tetras, Dispatch, Emo Nite, Equal Vision Records, Flipper, Indigo De Souza, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Mac DeMarco, Matt Nathanson, Monophonics, OFF!, Parquet Courts, Portugal The Man, Roar, Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, SPELLLING, THE BOBBY LEES, The Brothers Comatose, The Format, The Maine, The Tragically Hip, Third Eye Blind, Toadies, Tori Amos, Triple Crown Records, Urge Overkill, Yo La Tengo, and more joining forces to raise funds on behalf of their selected organization.

Band Shirt Day brings artists together to sell merchandise on their official sales channels and donate proceeds to charitable organizations of their choice. Similar to Record Store Day or AUS Music T-Shirt Day in Australia, Band Shirt Day invites artists to create and sell unique, limited edition merch items while encouraging them to use their platform to create change. Artists can participate by listing their specially designed merchandise on their Spotify artist profile and raising donations using the Fan Support tool, with proceeds going directly to the Band Shirt Day fund.

This year’s Band Shirt Day fund recipients include:

ACLU [www.aclu.org]

The American Civil Liberties Union is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States".

Ally Coalition [www.theallycoalition.org]

TAC provides critical support for grassroots non-profit organizations dedicated to bettering the lives of LGBTQ+ youth.

Animal Legal Defense Fund [www.aldf.org]

The Animal Legal Defense Fund files high-impact lawsuits to protect animals from harm, provides free legal assistance and training to prosecutors in their fight against animal cruelty, supports animal protection legislation, and provides resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the field of animal law.

MusiCares [www.musicares.org]

MusiCares is a charity that has provided Millions in health, financial, and rehabilitation resources to music people in times of need by helping the humans behind music because music gives so much to the world

Planned Parenthood [www.plannedparenthood.org]

Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally.

Project Hope [www.projecthope.org]

For more than 60 years, Project HOPE has transformed the health and well-being of people and communities around the world. We work on the front lines of the world’s health challenges, partnering hand-in-hand with communities, health care workers and public health systems to ensure sustainable change.

GoFundMe.org is a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 81-2279757). Its mission is to provide fast and effective relief to victims of disaster, and to fund education and other charitable initiatives. Since 2017, GoFundMe.org has raised over $150 million, for distribution to nonprofit organizations serving the same mission, and to individuals who are part of the charitable class. It strives to eliminate the paradox of choice for donors by providing a centralized place to give, knowing that those dollars are disbursed to the right organizations and people. GoFundMe.org operated at a 96% efficient rate, meaning that $.96 on every dollar given, goes straight to delivering help, not our admin costs. Donations to this fund are tax-deductible to the extent permissible by law. Money will be given at the discretion of GoFundMe.org as the need arises.