Cafepress have just announced portals for several popular musicians. What does this mean for the Cafepress shopkeeper. It means that you can create designs for bands that already have a huge fan base. The already have people searching for their t-shirts and gift items. Yes, your designs come with a ready-made guaranteed market.  Of course sales are another thing. You should get some sales thanks to the Cafepress marketing machine but if you really want to make money from your fan designs you will need to sell them from directly from your store rather than the Cafepress marketplace. See below for email and links to information about portals and design restrictions:

If you’re a big music fan then you’ll be happy to hear about our new set of fan portals (coming soon)!  We’re thrilled that our partner, Live Nation, is inviting the creative CafePress community to create fan-designed merchandise for some of the most talented musical artists (see below).  You can start now!

Be sure to read the Design Guidelines as there are very specific rules that designers must adhere to in order for their content to be featured in and sold through the artist’s fan portal.  Click on the artist’s name below to view the design guidelines specific to that artist.  Please note that the guidelines may be more restrictive than the CafePress Content Usage Policy, however we need to respect the creative decisions of the artists.

Cheech and Chong
Chickenfoot
Gene Simmons
KISS
Lil Wayne
Maroon 5
System of a Down
The Who
Tommy Lee
ZZ Top

You may notice a lot of these names have stores at Zazzle too but Zazzle shopkeepers cannot design for them…yet. What do you say Zazzle? Gonna make some new deals?

You might also be interested in the following posts:

1. Design for Dexter and the L Word at Cafepress
2. Anti-Valentine’s Day Design Contest
3. LOST Design Contest at Cafepress
4. Cafepress Announce Marketplace Pricing
5. Saint Patrick’s Day Design Contest at Spreadshirt