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Union Standard & Union Approved — every product graded on how it's made.
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Transparent pricing
Half the profit on every art-backed piece goes to the artist. The full math is on every product page.
~623
Real streams = $1
Our own figure, measured from what our collective catalog earns.
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Sword of a Giant Black Zip Up HoodieUnion Approved HoodieSword of a Giant Black Zip Up Hoodie Supports Sword of a Giant$70.00 Volcanic Navy Fitzgerald Fleece SweatpantsUnion Approved SweatpantsVolcanic Navy Fitzgerald Fleece Sweatpants $56.00 After Dark Micro-Rib UU TankUnion Approved TankAfter Dark Micro-Rib UU Tank $31.00 First Light Micro-Rib UU TankUnion Approved TankFirst Light Micro-Rib UU Tank $31.00 Whiteout Printed Organic TeeWhiteout Printed Organic TeeUnion Standard T-ShirtWhiteout Printed Organic Tee $30.00 Nightfall Printed Organic TeeNightfall Printed Organic TeeUnion Standard T-ShirtNightfall Printed Organic Tee $30.00 Rob Banks Terelj Organic CrewneckRob Banks Terelj Organic CrewneckUnion Standard SweatshirtRob Banks Terelj Organic Crewneck $86.00 Sword of a Giant Asteroid Ankle Snapback HatSword of a Giant Asteroid Ankle Snapback HatUnion Approved HatSword of a Giant Asteroid Ankle Snapback Hat Supports Sword of a Giant$41.00
i Worth Knowing

The Money Nobody Claims Goes to the Biggest Players

When a streaming service can't identify who owns a song, the royalties pile up unpaid. Over $424 million had accumulated by 2021, and money that stays unclaimed is eventually split among publishers by market share.
Unclaimed money is divided the way the market already is.
Source blog.themlc.com
i Worth Knowing

Buying Direct Leaves Far More With the Maker

Card processing takes about 3% of a direct sale. Selling the same shirt through a large marketplace costs 25 to 40% once fees, fulfilment and advertising are counted.
Taken from the sale
Their own site about 3%
A large marketplace 25-40%
Once fees, fulfilment and advertising are counted.
Source sellingpartners.aboutamazon.com
i Worth Knowing

Spotify's Founder: From Music to the Military Industrial Complex

Daniel Ek founded Spotify and is its executive chairman. He also chairs Helsing, whose AI strike drones search for and engage targets without a continuous data link.
Chairman of both
Source helsing.ai
i Worth Knowing

The Fashion Industry Discards About 92 Million Tonnes a Year

The UN Environment Programme puts textile waste from clothing at roughly 92 million tonnes annually — the equivalent of a truckload burned or buried every second.
One of these, every second, all year.
Source unep.org
i Worth Knowing

Half the Profit Goes to the Artist

On an artist affiliated piece, the profit — what's left after making it, card fees and shipping — is split down the middle with the artist. The exact figure is on the product's page.
What you pay
Cost to makeFeesProfit
That profit
ArtistUU
The exact split is on every product page.
Source Umbrella Union
i Worth Knowing

GOTS® Follows the Fiber All the Way to the Garment

The Global Organic Textile Standard covers chemical inputs, wastewater, labor conditions and third-party audits at every stage. Certification counts toward our Union Standard tier.
growing the fiber spinning and knitting dyeing and finishing sewing the garment packing and trade
Certified at every stage
Source global-standard.org
i Worth Knowing

97% of People Read Reviews Before Choosing a Business

BrightLocal's 2026 survey of a thousand US consumers found 97% read online reviews when weighing up a local business, and 41% always do. Writing one costs nothing.
read reviews
Three don't read them.
Source brightlocal.com
i Worth Knowing

A Major Label Spends It. The Artist Repays It.

A major label pays for recording, marketing and promotion, then deducts all of it from the artist's share rather than its own. At a 25% royalty, each dollar spent takes four dollars of sales to clear.
The label spends $1
Sales required $4
Repayment comes only from the artist's share.
Source committees.parliament.uk
i Worth Knowing

A Send Counts for More Than a Like

Instagram's head has said sends per reach is one of the most important signals in ranking, because forwarding a post is how it reaches people who don't already follow the account.
A like stays inside the circle. A send leaves it.
Source creators.instagram.com
i Worth Knowing

How We Count a Stream

No service publishes a real per-stream rate, so we measure our own from what the collective catalog earns. Only deliberate listens count; feed autoplay, lyrics licensing and downloads are left out.
38%
of plays counted
Recalculated weekly.
Source Umbrella Union
i Worth Knowing

Not All Streams Count the Same

Billboard counts 100 paid streams, 250 ad-supported (free tier) streams, or 400 programmed streams — where a station picked the song, not you — as one song "sale."
Streams that equal one "sale"
Paid subscription 100
Free tier, with ads 250
Programmed station 400
Longer bar, more plays needed to count as one "sale".
Source billboard.com
i Worth Knowing

Labels Can Trade Royalties for Promotion

Spotify's Discovery Mode places a track in radio, autoplay and personalized mixes in exchange for a lower royalty rate on it. Broadcast radio must announce paid play. Streaming has no such rule.
Broadcast radio: a paid play must be announced
Personalized mixes: nothing has to be announced
Discovery Mode runs in the playlists made for you.
Source support.spotify.com
i Worth Knowing

One Wash Can Shed 700,000 Microplastic Fibers

University of Plymouth researchers measured more than 700,000 microplastic fibers from one six-kilogram load of synthetic fabric. Cotton sheds no plastic, because there is none in it.
Source plymouth.ac.uk
i Worth Knowing

Going Gold Now Takes 75 Million Streams

Gold has always meant 500,000 units. Once that was half a million records sold. The RIAA now counts 150 streams as one unit, so on streaming alone it takes 75 million plays.
Two routes to the same award
Records sold 500,000
Streams 75,000,000
The same award, at 150 times the volume.
Source riaa.com
i Worth Knowing

Only One Service Has Published an Audited Payout Rate

Qobuz reports $0.01873 per stream, confirmed by an outside firm and, by its own account, a first for the industry. Spotify says no such rate exists.
Published payout per stream
Qobuz$0.01873
Apple Music?
Spotify?
Tidal?
Deezer?
No published figure.
Source community.qobuz.com
i Worth Knowing

Most Songs on Spotify Earn Nothing

A track earns nothing on Spotify until it passes 1,000 streams in a year, and the streams that got it there are never paid.
$0.00
under the threshold
Reported estimates put the share of tracks below Spotify's threshold between roughly 60% and 86%.
Source support.spotify.com
i Worth Knowing

"Sustainable" Has No Legal Definition

Any brand can print the word on anything. Certifications like GOTS and Fairtrade are the checkable version, which is why our tiers rest on them.
sustainable adjective /suh-STAY-nuh-buhl/
No entry to check.
Source ftc.gov
i Worth Knowing

What a Dollar Is Worth in Streams

An artist earns about as much from one dollar that reaches them as from 623 streams. On a $10 release, $9 reaches them.
623
streams per dollar
A $10 release sends $9 to the artist, worth roughly 5,600 streams. A $30 album, about 16,800.
“A stream” means different things depending on where — and whether anyone chose to hear it.
Source Umbrella Union
i Worth Knowing

Venues Often Take a Cut of Merch Sold at Shows

When an artist sells a shirt at the merch table, the venue commonly takes between 15 and 30% of the price.
30% 15%
15-30% to the venue
The shaded band is the range.
Source rollingstone.com
i Worth Knowing

Union Standard Means a Third Party Checked

A supplier earns it by having its supply chain certified, independently audited, and openly named. Not every supplier we use clears that bar, and we say which ones do.
Union Standard badge
Source Umbrella Union
Asteroid AnkleSword of a Giant Asteroid Ankle Snapback HatSword of a Giant Asteroid Ankle Unisex Premium SweatshirtSword of a Giant Asteroid Ankle Organic Cotton T-Shirt
Featured Release

Asteroid Ankle

By Sword of a Giant
Single · 2026

"She's singing but we deaf to it. Alarm ringing? We just slept through it. If you're alive, this is death music. Or on the surface, this is depth music."

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Who We Are

A Creative Union

We represent artists, innovators, and creators from across the globe. What we share is independence, full ownership, and goods created with standards we can all be stand behind.

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