“Sound Business”: Wear Your Music – Rock Stars, Fashion, and Making a Difference

Making music is about giving and receiving at the same time. Here’s a non-profit that knows how to put that two-way relationship perfectly into motion.

Silver guitar and bass string bracelets from Wear Your Music — fashion for a cause.

Wear Your Music gathers up used guitar strings from top artists – Eric Clapton, Metallica, Bonnie Raitt, and more – and converts them from sonic artifacts into wearable ones. Once WYM sells them, 100% of the proceeds go to the charity of each artists’ choice.

But even this uncomplicated concept takes plenty of smarts to execute. Looking to make a difference in 2014? Here’s insight and inspiration from WYM co-founder Hannah Garrison on one way to make it happen.

Business Name:  Wear Your Music, LLC

Website:  http://www.wearyourmusic.org

Location: Woonsocket, RI

Launch Date: 2006, technically.  Really, 2009.

Revenue Streams: Wear Your Music was founded because Steve Bernstein and Hannah Garrison are passionate about music, the environment and philanthropy.

The two met on Craigslist when Steve was the President of Relix Magazine and Hannah was a jeweler just returning from a year in Mexico.  They hashed out the plan for Wear Your Music in one afternoon- bracelets from famous people’s strings with 100% of profits donated to charities selected by the artists themselves.  Since that afternoon the project has grown to support itself and reach a wider demographic.

Here are the offerings…

Artist Bracelet Program — Bracelets made from strings donated by acclaimed musicians. 100% of net profits donated to charities of the artists’ choosing.

Rock Recycled Program — Guitar string bracelets made from generic recycled strings.  Supports the Artist Program.

Merch Program — One-size-fits-all guitar and bass string bracelets as well as guitar string rings.  Supports the Artist Program at a lower (and brandable) price point.

Clients/Credits:  For us, this would be Participating Artists.  Eric Clapton, Metallica, John Mayer, Bonnie Raitt, Gregg Allman and over 100 more!

Key Personnel:  I, (Hannah Garrison) run day-to-day and shipping with my assistant Nicole.  We have a great bookkeeper and CFO who telecommutes from NYC.  My partner, Steve, runs WYM Hong Kong (just starting) and keeps me inspired and motivated.  Joyce Dollinger is the main connector—she talks about WYM all the time and heads up our outreach to new artists.

Unique Offering: Well, we have amazing relationships with our artists – and we have a serious authenticity protocol.  Our strings are never left unlabeled and we keep filed all the materials that back them up.  We are the only company that offers Artist Bracelets wherein the artists get to choose the recipient charity.

Expansion Action: Last year we gave over 80K to charity!  Best year yet!

Another spin on a WYM string.

Case In Point: This year we have reduced our expenses almost impossibly.  We really don’t spend ANYTHING we don’t have to so the max can go to charity.  For the most part, my business partner and I donate our time and have yet to take any money out of the company.

Glowing Testimonials:  We have rave reviews from both our artists and our customers!  The artists love the program because it not only gives to charities that THEY choose, but is also raises great environmental awareness.

Why Being a Sonic Entrepreneur Rules: Mobile devices have changed the way we work!  But really, it is all the amazing and goodhearted people we get to work with.  We really get to pick and choose our partners and work with talented and motivated people that are committed to doing good things.  Oh, also, we can bring our kids to work!

Why Some Days You Want to Pack It In and Get Your Real Estate License:  Unhappy customers, shipments that are late, lost packages, website issues, computer problems, Internet slowness….I mean, we wear ALL THE HATS and that’s tough.  No IT dept to call!

The Ultimate Business Partner: I think I already have him!  But, if we could bring another person on board we would probably choose Madonna or Oprah.  Those ladies have some serious ability to brand and brand and brand.  We need help with PR and merchandising and they have that NAILED! And we like Madonna’s cone–shaped bra.  Or maybe a merch or distribution company would be good…

Sage Advice: Be organized.  You will have so many things to juggle that this will be your umber one skill.  And remember to give thanks for even having the opportunity to try.  Is it stressful?  Yes!  But that’s only one piece of the pie.

Anything else?  Did we mention having fun and loving what you do?  Cause there’s that…

Hannah Garrison, co-founder, Wear Your Music

Complement your karma with a WYM Artist Bracelet.

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