
“The artists live their life, and I live my laundry life.” - theBashShell
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/arts/music/tour-laundry-hans-juergen-topf.html
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Olasson
To me, the takeaway is the strategy he used to start the business: " _In the
early 2000s, Topf began appearing outside German venues with a van, offering
to pick up, wash and return the production’s clothes._ " Then after seeing the
quality, artists/managers invited him to join tours. It's genius, simple but
original and effective.

Also not surprised at the dirtiest crap ever being Slipknot's clothes. Their
concerts were quite an experience. Not only is the show impressive (levitating
drummers and all), but also the sheer synchronization and speed at which they
play.

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lebanon_tn
Do things that don't scale. Make 100 people love you. Go out of your way to
delight your users. The best ideas won't sound like they're stealing.

Granted this didn't become a billion dollar company but this guy intuitively
did a lot of what YC preaches.

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jmvoodoo
Thanks for sharing. I run a doorstep laundry service that uses software to
make the process more efficient, cost effective, and reliable, so this struck
a chord with me.

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noir_lord
I'm curious did you create the software yourself or is there a Washing
Scheduling As A Service out there already?

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jmvoodoo
I created the software myself. There is at least one solution out there that I
found but it didn't even come close to meeting my needs.

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hn_throwaway_99
I'm so happy for what seems to be a resurgence in respect and love for the
more "mundane" jobs in life. As a somewhat recent convert (along with half the
internet it seems at times) to the inspiring "cult" of Marie Kondo, I think
it's pretty fantastic that one of the most popular personalities today is
someone teaching us the joy of folding socks.

~~~
vonseel
And third time I’ve heard about this show and first I’ve seen it mentioned on
HN in a few days span... that show is blowing up fast. (I have not had Netflix
the past few months, Netflix sabbatical but failed experiment since I got
hooked on Hulu).

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noir_lord
Konmari has been around a while, my partner loves it which is why I can never
find my stuff when she's 'konmari'd' a room.

~~~
miluge
I wish my girlfriend who became addicted to Kondo who stop doing this in the
kitchen.

I worked in kitchen since I was a kid and always had my mis en place ( the
kitchen is sacred for me ), whenever she does it you can hear me swearing
because I cant find coffee, my knife sharpener or because she rearranged my
knives setting causing me to try to cut bread with a chinese cleaver!

Altho' the bedroom is a bliss to find stuff in now.

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puranjay
I never even thought about this part of the industry. I just assumed that the
hotel did the artists' laundry

~~~
jmts
I'd love to see that bill!

Most hotel laundry services I've encountered seem to be priced for one or two
critical items. Cleaning a week's worth of items would be prohibitively
expensive for most people, and I would be surprised if big productions would
be interested in burning several hundred, if not thousands of dollars a week
per person just for laundry.

On the flip side, it would be rather amusing to see the entire support cast
for Madonna or U2 huddled about grumpily in a coin laundry waiting for other
people to finish.

~~~
puranjay
That's what I underestimated. I didn't realize a tour could have 150 full-time
employees.

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vonseel
Those are big big big tours. U2 is #1 by revenue in the 2010s - although that
is over a two year period. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-
grossing_conce...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-
grossing_concert_tours) Ed Sheeran pulled in $432M in concert revenue last
year alone. That is supposedly the highest for single year.

I’d love to see the numbers for a “regular” band, or even broken out examples
by category of “stardom” - say, The Strokes level, Bon Iver level, newer up-
and-coming artists like Phoebe Bridgers, and then finally your local touring
bands and last but not least the guy busking at Whole Foods.

As I understand it there is decent money to be made at most of those levels
above local bar bands. But it ain’t easy. There’s a lot of people who go for
it that frankly don’t have “it”, though. And some of them make it for a while.
Hardly anyone makes it a lifetime career, like Willie Nelson or Elton John.

~~~
Cthulhu_
Is that tour money added to the amount often attributed to the size of the
music industry? I'm seeing a number of "only" $15 billion on wikipedia.

~~~
vonseel
A quick search shows Spotify alone paid $9.8 billion in royalties to artists
in 2017.

I see that $15B number looks like it's coming from some IFPI reports. I don't
know what that org includes but it doesn't sound even close to accurate.

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ptbello
Mandatory:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgF1p29_MZM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgF1p29_MZM)

("Laundry Man" by australian comedy collective The Peloton)

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bytematic
Wow some days he works 20 hours, I imagine he handles all the staffs laundry
as well? These kinds of people need to be featured more often, they are great
role models for kids.

~~~
lostctown
It is not possible for a human being to work 20 hours a day. No exceptions.

~~~
repiret
That depends strongly on the work and the frequency.

The ACGME rules require only that a medical resident work no more than 24
continuous hours with at least a 14-hour break after a 24-hour shift. Many
residency programs had difficulty adjusting their programs to comply with
these rules when they went into effect in 2011.

My wife regularly works 24-hour ER shifts; and used to do 8-hour clinic shifts
immediately after. There's another doctor in the same ER who usually works one
or two 60-hour shifts per month.

Work in a small ER is bursty. You might see one or two patients with minor
problems in a 24-hour shift, and get to sleep a full night. Or you might get
woken up after 4 hours of sleep. Or you might get to take a series of 2 hour
naps. Or you might not sleep.

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PhasmaFelis
Jesus Christ, that's terrifying.

After 18 hours without sleep, you're functioning at the level of a person with
two drinks in them. It only gets worse from there. We trust these people with
our lives.

~~~
icebraining
The usual explanation is that handoffs are even more dangerous.

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Scoundreller
Kinda wanted to know what the machines manufacturer was, but then he said they
make money renting them out, so I guess that's a sorta trade-secret.

~~~
m-s
Industrial Electrolux machines in custom-made rolling cases.
[http://www.mylaundry.de/mobile-laundry-
service/](http://www.mylaundry.de/mobile-laundry-service/)

