Band Merch, Silencing, and Aesthetic Community
Band Merch, Silencing, and Aesthetic Community

Summary/Abstract: This paper addresses a question that has sparked heated debate while mostly flying under the philosophical radar: should people stop wearing the merchandise (‘merch’) of bands they do not listen to? I respond affirmatively. People should stop wearing merch of bands they do not listen to because (1) doing so can silence people who wear band merch to communicate their taste in music and (2) this silencing threatens the valuable role that wearing band merch plays in the aesthetic lives of people who share a taste in music: promoting aesthetic community among them. As will emerge throughout the paper, this argument is relevant to the debate on silencing as well as the debate on the value of aesthetic community.

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