📝 By The Riff Report Crew
📍 Filed under: Overpriced Accessories, Festival Rants, Earplug Drama

🎤 INTRO: LOOP, WE LOVE YOU… BUT COME ON.

At The Riff Report, we’ve got a lot of love for Loop. Their earplugs have saved our hearing from being shattered by double kicks, wall-of-amps feedback, and the banshee screams of metal vocalists standing two feet from the barrier. Seriously, we recommend Loop to everyone from front-row maniacs to the quiet kid at the back of the arena.

But when we saw the Loop Link pop up on our feed for a cool £19.95 GBP… we had one collective reaction:

“Wait, are Loop going full Apple on us?”

🔗 WHAT EVEN IS THE LOOP LINK?

Let’s not overcomplicate this.

The Loop Link is a lanyard-style cord that attaches to your Loop earplugs, letting you wear them around your neck like a necklace. That way, if you pop them out for a bit — to hear your mates moan about the beer prices or shout “WHERE’S THE TOILET?!” — you don’t drop them in the mud, the port-a-loo, or worse… the urinal trough at a gig (shudder).

In concept? Brilliant.
In execution? Slick.
In price? A touch offensive.

💸 £19.95 FOR A STRING?

We’re trying really hard not to be that person who says, “I could make this myself for £2 and a shoelace.”

But.

We could absolutely make this ourselves for £2 and a shoelace.

It’s not that the Loop Link doesn’t look good — it does. And it’s not that we don’t appreciate good quality design — we do. It’s just that… for nearly twenty quid, it starts to feel like we’re being looped (pun intended) into a trap of “buy the accessories, or suffer.”

Sound familiar, Apple fans?

🧠 LOOP VS APPLE: THE ACCESSORY ARMS RACE

This isn’t just about a cord. This is about a growing trend of brands making accessories for the accessories.

We’ve been here before:

  • Apple removed headphone jacks, then sold £9 dongles.
  • They stopped including chargers, but offered £29 “eco-friendly” USB-C cables.
  • Now Loop’s earplugs — already £24.95+ — are joined by a £19.95 string.

What next? A Loop Carry Case made of vegan yak leather for £34.99?
A “Loop Polish Cloth” for £4.99?
A Loop-branded cleaning robot called “LoopBot 3000”? (Okay, that one sounds cool.)

💬 FESTIVAL FIELD REACTIONS

We asked some mates at Steelhouse and Download what they thought.

“I love my Loops but I’m not paying nearly £20 for a fancy shoelace.” – Sam, 32, Cardiff
“Mate, I just wear mine in a Kinder Egg capsule on a keyring.” – Chloe, 28, Birmingham
“They should give you one for free when you buy two pairs!” – Tom, 45, Bridgend
“I’d pay £20 if it played guitar solos.” – Lorna, 36, Swansea

Same, Lorna. Same.

🔍 THE POSITIVES (YES, THERE ARE SOME)

Let’s not be unfair — there are benefits to the Loop Link.

✅ You won’t lose your plugs

Because we’ve all dropped them mid-crowd surf or during an encore.

✅ It looks sleek

Available in Warm Charcoal (yes, it has a name like a luxury candle), it definitely vibes with your all-black gig fit.

✅ It’s probably very durable

Loop products are usually built to last. We’re sure this cord can survive mud, sweat, beers, and maybe even one full Slipknot wall of death.

🔁 OUR RANTY SOLUTIONS

Look, we’re not anti-merch. We’re not even anti-pricey merch (we paid £45 for a My Chemical Romance tour tee and have no regrets).

But if Loop want to charge £20 for a glorified necklace, they could at least:

🎁 Bundle it in with their Engage or Experience sets
🎟️ Give it free to returning customers
📦 Discount it when bought with earplugs
👕 Print “I PAID £20 FOR A STRING” on it for meme value

🤘 OUR VERDICT: GREAT IDEA, RIDICULOUS PRICE

We’ll still recommend Loop earplugs to every music lover we know. They’re genuinely brilliant.
But the Loop Link? Unless you’ve got money to burn, you’re better off tying your plugs together with a bit of floss and shouting “DIY ‘til I die!” at the merch stand.

📢 YOUR TURN – SOUND OFF!

Have you bought the Loop Link?
Are we being stingy, or are Loop cashing in?
Send us your DIY Loop hacks and we’ll post the best ones on our socials.

🖤 Support The Riff Report so we can afford one of these cords and see if it can survive a Slayer mosh pit.
🎟️ www.theriffreport.co.uk