Arkells giving T-shirts to those who subscribe to journalism.

Max Kerman wants you to get the T-shirt.

On Tuesday, his band — Arkells — issued a challenge on its social media accounts.

“New year, new deed,” the band tweeted. “Arkells want you to stop running from the paywall and consider supporting local journalism. It’s been years in the making. Sign up for a subscription to your fave news outlet and we’ll gift you this custom T-shirt.”

The post concluded with “DEETS HERE + FEEL GOOD” and then directed people to p://arkellsmusic. com.

There, before proceeding to information about the Hamilton, Ont.-based rock band, those who subscribe to a news outlet are asked to fill out a form in exchange for a T-shirt.

“Our New Year’s resolution is to invest in the things that truly matter. Join us,” the preamble reads. “Let’s start by supporting your local paper or a daily publication you really admire.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Twitter post had been retweeted more than 350 times and had more than 900 likes.

The band’s online home had welcomed a lot of visitors too, according to Kerman.

“There’s been like hundreds of subscriptions that rolled in,” the band’s frontman said. “I don’t have a hard number, but it was really encouraging to see in the first few hours.”

Full disclosure: I was among those who retweeted and liked the post.

As someone who works in newspapers, and who manages a team of people who are deeply committed to craft and community, I have an obvious stake in seeing local journalism survive and thrive.

Arkells believe everyone has a stake in the game, that the work of reporters is vital to people and the places they live.

Kerman says doing something to support the news industry has been on the band’s collective mind for a while, with the downsizing of local papers.

He says the group wondered how they could help nudge people to do things that will benefit them.

“We have a bit of a platform in Arkells and we thought it would be an interesting experiment.”

Kerman has long valued newspapers.

As a kid, his family had The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail delivered to their door.

Those papers helped him learn how to read and, through standings on the sports pages, how numbers worked.

Still, a few years ago he found himself clicking away whenever he struck a paywall.

“And I asked myself, why is that? Why is there this disconnect going on in my mind? … I don’t bat an eye when it comes to buying a latte or buying a pint of beer, or something like that, but when it comes to paying five to 10 bucks a month for a newspaper — something I really love and will help me learn about my community — why I am clicking away?”

Kerman says he subscribes to a bunch of news sites now and feels good about it.

He suggests everyone would.

“I feel like getting a subscription to your local paper is something everyone has been meaning to do, meaning to get around to, but for whatever reason, haven’t done it yet.

So, to see people act on it was really exciting.”

Kerman sees parallels between music and news, that when streaming tunes started, the idea of paying $10 a month seemed foreign. Now, he says attitudes have shifted, with more and more music lovers signing up for Spotify or Apple Music.

His hope is that perspectives change to the point that people feel “really good about supporting their local paper.”

He likes to think Arkells have always been engaged members of their community, showing appreciation for those who do the heavy lifting, like nurses, teachers and social workers.

Getting behind local journalism is not such a stretch.

“I don’t have much patience for sanctimonious people, and the spirit of this is supposed to be kind of fun, a recognition of a blind spot I think we have in our culture right now and an opportunity to act on it.

“I know when I have someone nudge me in the right direction, I appreciate it,” Kerman says.

“(This is) supposed to be a bit of ode to the people who work really hard as reporters and a celebration of them.”

And, yes, although I have a horse in the race, believe me, this is a group of professionals worth celebrating.

I hope you get a T-shirt.