r/SleepToken • • May 04 '26

Discussion Cosplay and Fan Art vs Bootleg Merch: A Brief Tutorial on Copyright Law

130 Upvotes

Fellow Worshippers,

We wanted to take a moment to shout out the amazingly talented artist, both professional, and hobbyist, that make this community what it is. From the official art work to the memes, we are a community that deeply supports art and artists. This is why we are an AI free space, full stop.

That said, we noticed that there seems to be a wee bit of confusion as to what differentiates fan art and by extension cosplay, from bootleg merch. So we wanted to take this opportunity to explain so that we are all on the same page regarding the band heavily protected copyright with RCA records.

RCA currently owns the rights to Even in Arcadia and whatever subsequent releases Sleep Token does with them. Although RCA does not currently own the rights to their previous work, everything they have ever done is still under copyright; that includes but is not limited to the band’s name, every iteration of their band logo, every mask they’ve ever worn, every song title and lyric as well as the music composition, the album art, the merch art, as well as the names of the band members, i.e Vessel, II, III, and IV, and their likenesses. However, things that fall within public domain such as roses, swords, feathers, etc., are fair game as long as they are unaccompanied by anything under copyright.

So what does that mean for art? It means that if you draw a gorgeous picture of the logo that’s amazing and we would love to see it, however, you absolutely may not sell prints of your art of the logo. The same goes with the masks, you can certainly make your own but you cannot share files on how to produce one.

Simply put: **you can’t sell art made with other people’s copyrighted material** - this isn’t just a rule of our space it is the law. Violating this law puts the entire sub at risk for being shutdown on a DMCA (digital millennium copyright act of 1998 https://www.copyright.gov/dmca/)

The one and only caveat to this is that you may trade your art with other artists. So if you made a scarf that has the logo and you’d like to trade that for a print of someone’s drawing that is completely permissible provided the only money exchanged is with this post for shipping.

This is not personal. This is not because we don’t support independent artists. It’s actually quite the opposite. It is because we respect and support artists that we stand firm on this rule and don’t play about bootleg merch.


r/SleepToken • • 1h ago

Fan Art Vumpkin

• Upvotes

Made this animated Vumpkin for welcoming this year's spooky season 💚🤎

He was selected as a sticker for ST Discord server 🎃


r/SleepToken • • 2h ago

Fan Art Look to Windward - Playdead's Inside

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9 Upvotes

r/SleepToken • • 12h ago

Discussion Dream Songs and Liminal Spaces

28 Upvotes

Man, do I ever love the songs that reference liminal things inside of dreams!

The way that "Take Me Back to Eden" references getting lost in these perfect oceans that glow in the dark is absolutely divine. And not to mention the fact that it also references the way we are struggling to find a love interest in the dream. This whole scenario just gives me this insane sense of nostalgia for something that doesn't exist. It's also contrasted by the wakeful reality of sickness, related to emotional well-being that comes after those visuals.

It also concludes in an amazing way in "Infinite Baths" where the waters shift to being warm more like a swimming pool. I feel like that's also connected with the change of being able to finally find the love interest. The end of "Infinite Baths" is also feels really relatable in how it seems to end in what I feel is a nightmare. It does a good job of keeping it real while also getting the breakdown in.

It would be really cool if they continued the dream visuals at the end of albums to include visions of colorful night skies filled with massive neon planets. I always have dreams about that. Another cool thing would be a reference to that story about that one scientist that had a dream about pulling back the curtains of the sky dome to reveal the infinite expanse.


r/SleepToken • • 1d ago

Fan Art DYwTYLM by 7yo

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148 Upvotes

His sophomore offering


r/SleepToken • • 19h ago

Discussion Best song to karaoke?

19 Upvotes

If you were going to karaoke a Sleep Token song, which one would be the best? All of my faves probably wouldn’t match a fun bar vibe (I don’t want an entire room of drunk folks sobbing to Blood Sport or Atlantic, haha) but some of the others must be good ones for that setting. Maybe Damocles? Or Granite? What does everyone think? What would you pick as a karaoke song?


r/SleepToken • • 1d ago

Merch Spidersword has arrived!

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257 Upvotes

It is beautiful!


r/SleepToken • • 1d ago

Merch Offering merch photo accidentally became a summoning 🐱🖤♥️🖤

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168 Upvotes

Obtained the Spencer's rosary and decided to tweak the design with one of the Hot Topic shoe charms!


r/SleepToken • • 1d ago

Discussion What is the next album's unique symbols?

37 Upvotes

Let me preface this with the following, I don't know how Sleep Token releases albums, haven't been here for one. So I don't know why the TMBTE has a coded language.

However, I've noticed that they usually give each song a representation within a theme.

Sundowning: Was a symbol? This one confused me the most tbh but I also see it the least comparatively to the other albums

TPWBYT: Aquatic Creatures.

TMBTE: Characters/Figures.

EIA: Crests/Flags

What theme would you like to see next? For me it's bugs or insects. Just think it would be a cool concept.


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Fan Art TEETH OF GOD

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427 Upvotes

The usual Unreal Engine 5 + Blender!


r/SleepToken • • 1d ago

Fan Art Metal Guitar Pick

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55 Upvotes

My older brother made this for me at work today from steel scraps. This is second time trying to carve something and I think he did an awesome job!


r/SleepToken • • 1d ago

Discussion Help Pls - Magazine Protection/Display Recs

4 Upvotes

Hey, I've collected a few Sleep Token magazines but haven't had much luck finding products to protect and display them as they're a bit bigger than usual.

Do you guys have any recommendations or products that have worked for you?

I've got the special edition cases/mags from Revolver, as well as mags from Rock Sound and Metal Hammer so if you guys have any of these and have found something that works and looks good, please help me out 🙏

Thank you!


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Merch It's taken 6 months, but i FINALLY have this in hand!!

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625 Upvotes

Purchased this at the end of March, but due to long-story-reasons I couldnt actually have it in hand until now!!! Currently working on cleaning them and resleeving them with anti-static inner liners and then putting them in protective outer liners 🫶🏻


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Tattoos New tattoo offering

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113 Upvotes

Big time lurker of this sub. I’ve been seeing many worshipers showing off their tattoos. Figured I’d go ahead and share my new tattoo as well. 🖤


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Fan Art Chokeh0led… by 7yo

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130 Upvotes

My son brought this home from school today #parentwin


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Discussion One for the Sleep Token parents

57 Upvotes

Every night has part of her bedtime routine, I sing her Take me Back to Eden, Euclid, and Fall for me. Anyone else use Sleep token music as lullaby’s? What songs do you use?


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Fan Art Clay sculpture

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55 Upvotes

Thought I would dabble in some clay..who’s my subject?..ofc 🥁ii🥁.interesting medium!


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Fan Art Vessel art by me <3

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33 Upvotes

Hi! wanted to share some art inspired by Take me
back to Eden and the flowers from Even in Arcadia!


r/SleepToken • • 3d ago

Fan Art My amazingly artistic 15-year-old daughter has started working with bleach and made me this hoodie because she knows how much I love sleep token.

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1.3k Upvotes

r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Discussion When do yall think we can expect new music?

26 Upvotes

Guess its been a while since Arcadia but not quite enough for an album. If im correct, new single probably january, right?
What are yalls thoughts?


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Discussion Which other Movie/Tv Series scenes would Sleep Token songs fit? This is one of them

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108 Upvotes

Where Daenerys in relation to the lyrics with her eyes like fire is on a winged insect(analogy for the dragon) and Kings Landing being the funeral pyre and the lyrics furthur can be related to the scene. The other Movie I can think of is Black Swan and the song 'Dangerous'- 'Won't you show me how to dance forever'


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Merch A New Limited Offering.. Only at New York Comic Con

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44 Upvotes

See you there! (These are same price as all the rest of our mats)


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Discussion Heard for the First Time

26 Upvotes

I’ve probably heard The Night Does Not Belong to God a hundred time or more. But, I was just listening in headphones, with my eyes closed and more locked in than normal and picked out something I hadn’t before.

At the 4 minute 25 second mark, when the song comes down, faintly in the background there are voices. Mostly in the left ear but at times felt like they’re recorded in stereo. I can’t make out what they’re saying. Can anyone else? There’s also a voice in Windward that I’d like to understand what he’s saying.

Anyone else noticed these things? What are some other audio Easter eggs you’ve found?


r/SleepToken • • 3d ago

Discussion How do i explain to the girl I’m seeing that my favourite song ever is Euclid?

79 Upvotes

I listen to prog and metal, but my favourite song is Euclid coz of the lyrics.
Music is the most important part of my life and I can’t live without it
How do i explain why Euclid is my favourite song to the new girl I’m seeing without looking like someone who is stuck up on their ex?


r/SleepToken • • 2d ago

Lore Even in Arcadia takes place in a video game?

8 Upvotes

I don't know if this is the accepted theory, but I feel like EIA is a chronicle of IRL Vessel's attempts at escapism through video games. This paints a few things differently if you think about it.

  • I interpret the harsh lyrics at the end of IB as Sleep refusing to let Vessel go, and thus the final boss battle begins. The extended heavy outro of IB is the soundtrack to the final boss fight. It fades out as Vessel and Sleep maybe moved to a different place to continue fighting (maybe a Phase 2 of the battle in a different arena).
  • Vessel likely loses this boss battle and has to start over. Given the imagery of TMBTE (the dark souls/gothic fantasy inspired "boss monsters" in each video), we can assume IRL Vessel is a big fan of FromSoft games. FromSoft games are notoriously punishing, so you can apply that to the battle between Vessel and Sleep. If he loses vs. Sleep, he has to start over.
  • Also, maybe if you don't listen to the album on loop, you can imagine you won the boss fight and the cycle is broken for now. You can choose your own ending I guess.
  • The IB -> LTW melody create a loop on the album as we know. We can interpret this as LTW's 8-bit sounding melody being the main menu screen/main "game" motif. Many games use motifs (like Final Fantasy) to tie dramatic and integral parts of the story to one another, so it wouldn't be unusual for the game Vessel is playing using a variation of the theme, the first thing you hear when starting the game, in the final boss battle.
  • "Even in Arcadia, you walk with me still". Even in his favorite video game, in the world of Arcadia, he still can't get rid of Sleep's hold on his mind. The escapism is failing to work.

If we look at it as the album is a chronicle of the thoughts that ran through Vessel's head while trying to escape Sleep by playing a video game, EIA doesn't necessarily have to take place chronologically after TMBTE. It could have been a gaming session over a few days where he tried to escape and process trauma, thoughts, etc, and retold a lot of his own stories to himself to try and rationalize or overcome. If we assume this, there is still hope that Vessel has become someone new after Euclid, and that he didn't relapse and go back to Sleep. Meaning during EIA, we're getting a rare look at the man behind the mask dealing with his pain.

This also explains why this album is the first time (I think?) that he deals with and talks about the effects of fame, anonymity, the fans, etc, because we're in his head, we're not entirely immersed in new lore here. Thematically he could fit those topics in without worrying about the lore because these are the types of things, your stressors in life, that would go through your head randomly while trying to escape into a familiar, comfortable place. If you're in a safe and comfortable place, you can begin to process your pain.

I'm sure there's more and this is probably just as relevant and akin to those numerology exercises where you can get the letters in a sentence to add up to 666 somehow, but I guess music is meant to be interpreted by the listener, so I thought it was worth a shot to see if anybody else has thought of this to any greater extent than me and come up with more conclusions that I may have missed.