Last week, UK metalcore group While She Sleeps made headlines around the world by releasing merchandise that explicitly aired their frustrations with streaming royalties. The shirt in question reads, “One t-shirt is the equivalent to 5000 streams on Spotify. 76% of all music in 2019 is streamed and not bought physically or digitally. Band merchandise is the most direct way of supporting an artist.”
While She Sleeps is not wrong. In today’s music business, merchandise sales matter more than ever. An artist who is capable of moving huge volumes of merch can turn industry heads faster than an artist with a viral single because executives know merchandise sales are where the most money is being made in 2019.
But how does an artist sell merchandise? There is more competition than ever for listeners’ attention, which means there is increased competition for their financial support. There are also no shortcuts to selling large amounts of merchandise. That said, there are ways artists can position themselves for success, which is what we’re going to discuss today.
In this episode of Music Biz 101, host James Shotwell details the increasing importance of merchandising in artists’ careers. He also offers advice for creating merch your fans will want to buy, complete with examples from artists with immensely dedicated followers.
The following post is a guest piece from one of our favorite industry lifers, Christopher Bianchi. Heed his advice.
When I started off playing in my friends basement, the thought of “tracking our music sales” was something that had literally never crossed our minds back then…Although it should have and I’m glad now of having grasped the concept many years later of how important it is to not only TRACK how many units you’ve sold but also to REPORT THEM with the proper outlets so they count.
Why?- There is the obvious- so the band or artist knows how many units they have sold. Then things stem further based on the situation such as: the booking agent or concert tour package. This is a way the agents and promoters all over have knowledge of your band and how it’s truly selling. From there they know how to appropriately place and book your size rooms, tours, festivals and events. That stems onward further into Record Labels. As an unsigned band- the label will see the proven sales numbers as a strong reason to invest in a partnership with your band. They can see that you’ve put in the work, time and effort to make noise and can now step in to help take things next level. This is also how you chart on Billboard with your first week and total sales.
Stemming even further from this- Endorsement and Partnerships will want to see hard proven sales numbers as a way to base there investment into that particular band or artist.
How?- This is surprisingly enough an outlet that goes unnoticed so very often with all sizes of bands. How to properly track and also register the sales you make?
You are going to need a few things in order to do so:
1. A Barcode for that particular album, single or EP. (These can be purchased often for a few dollars from numerous websites online. You purchase and register the title to that barcode- all done right on the website such as: speedy barcodes.com. From there you are on your way. They will send you a download of the barcode that you will use for registering via soundscan as well as adding to the official album back of the artwork when printing. You will use this barcode number to input the album with Atvenu.
2. Register the barcode to Nielson Soundscan. This is a VERY IMPORTANT part of the process. Soundscan are the title tracking company responsible for keeping all the numbers on file for sales. You must go to “Register A New Title” and input all of the information of your release. Album, EP, or Single. Add the release date and the barcode number with the rest of your information. Then hit submit. It takes a few days to register into the official system.
3. Atvenu– This is the platform that the artist uses to enter in all show and concert data such as: Date, Venue, Amount of Albums Sold, Cost. From here this is where on after each event you will submit the number of physical sales. The app runs a simple $10 per touring month for any artist which is WELL WORTH the investment to PROPERLY track your album sales. You simply add the album, barcode number and at the end of each show you have a line where the venue rep will sign (From any iPad,phone,etc)
Then you are able to submit easily that nights sales. The app then tracks all numbers and reports to Nielson Soundscan on your behalf every week.
Why not just report to Soundscan myself you ask?… Great question. That is because the Nielson system only accepts sales from certain special accredited sources. You must be a professional Record Label or something of the like in order to submit sales yourself. It also costs A LOT of money yearly. In order to do so independently, you must submit sales through a platform.
When it comes to digital release- these sales are automatically reported to soundscan via CD Baby, etc. However, to ensure especially in the physical department- It’s always the best bet to hand register each title.
Now PULLING official Soundscan reports are a whole different thing but luckily digital sales report to you monthly and physicals will be tracked through again the atvenu app!
Good luck and keep rocking!!
Christopher Bianchi is an Artist Manager at Mercenary Management who has been involved with the business side of music since he was just 14. Now in his late twenties, Chris lives with his wife, Kayla, in Ohio and spends his days helping artists of all sizes reach the next level(s) in their careers.
November is here, which means the Christmas shopping season is officially underway. There may still be a few weeks before Thanksgiving, but that shouldn’t stop you from preparing for what could be the most profitable period for online sales you experience all year. Black Friday happens on November 27, and today we’ve prepared a series of tips to ensure your holiday sales happen without issue. Some will seem obvious, but no point should be overlooked. Every step outlined below will help streamline your business, improve shipping speed, and – if you’re lucky – bring in a few additional customers.
Check your inventory. Twice.
Your goal with holiday sales should be to liquidate as much of the merchandise you have in stock as possible while still making a healthy profit on each product sold. Before you can do this to the best of your abilities you need to know what you have available, and how much of it is in stock. Running out of something during your holiday sale will cause headaches for everyone, and that goes double if you run out of something because you forgot to check your inventory prior to launching your sale. The back and forth required to straighten out orders that cannot be fulfilled may cause you to lose future sales, as well as those you are forced to cancel. Prevent this mess from ever happening and do inventory first. Do it twice, in fact, and ask someone else to check your work.
Promote your entire sale, as well as individual items.
You want people to use your discounts to buy more than they usually would, but often those attempting to promote a store-wide sale forget the impact that promoting key items one at a time can have on consumers. You should still mention store-wide discounts, of course, but you should also make room to highlight individual items. If you’re offering 25% off everything online, you should promote the sale as how it impacts items like shirts or vinyl. Create images for Instagram and other networks that highlight how the discount impacts the cost of single items, that way people can more easily understand what a great deal you are giving them. Likewise, you can use Twitter to promote various items and their price after discounts throughout the holiday weekend.
Speaking of promotion, think about paying for it.
I’m about to say something most artists hate to hear: Paying for promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter can have a positive impact on your reach, as well as your overall sales. It would be wonderful if this were not the case, and that those who could not afford paid promotion on social networks saw their sales work just as well, but years of research has made it clear that is not the case. Thankfully, the cost of entry into paid promotions is low. For as little as five dollars you can have a guaranteed reach to hundreds, if not thousands of people who have previously enjoyed your music enough to give you a Like/Follow online. Whether or not they take advantage of the message being conveyed will depend on how you choose to present yourself, but at least you know your efforts are reaching those who are most likely to jump on them.
Create specific Twitter search streams for particular items you sell.
This one is a bit more time-consuming than other tips, but it can help you bring in a lot of new consumers who may have otherwise not checked your store. There are numerous tools that allow you to create and save Twitter search streams. Find one you like and use it to track people tweeting about shopping/looking for things like ‘new vinyl’ or ‘cool band t-shirts.’ It’s likely these people already have an artist or genre in mind when they send these messages, but you can still reply with links to your store and music. If they don’t respond, oh well. If they do, you’ve got a potential new consumer/fan.
Make the most of SEO
We’ve talked about this before, but keywords are becoming increasingly important when it comes to how people find your content online. Use a tool such as the Google Keyword tool to better understand how your customers are searching, then modify your own store to reflect what you have learned. It is important to know which keywords are mostly used during the holidays, such as ‘sales,’ ‘top gifts,’ ‘cyber Monday,’ and ‘black Friday.’
Make sure everything is working before promoting your sale.
This one may seem obvious, but every year there are a handful of musicians who see their site, or at least parts of their site, crash amidst the sudden upswing in view brought on by the holiday shopping season. Before you push your sale live, make sure every item on your store is properly listed and that every sale is working correctly. If there is a code word needed, make sure you test it out prior to sharing it online.
I’m not ashamed to admit that, at 28, there are times I get jealous of today’s young music fans. As someone who lived the majority of their teens and 20s wearing band, record label, and/or music-related shirts almost everywhere I went it’s hard to realize such behavior is frowned upon the older you get. Once you leave college and begin waking most days out of the week with the purpose of working to pay off the enormous debt you accrued becoming an adult the world demands you put a little more effort into your wardrobe than promoting whatever music you’re currently enjoy at that moment in time. It’s a hard realization, but one that must be faced nine times out of ten if you hope to get ahead in life. You don’t see many executives rocking t-shirts these days, and if they are they probably started their company at a young age and used their drive to become so successful no one would dare complain about they dress on any particular day. That is not the case for my life, and I’m willing to bet it’s not the case for many of you reading this, so please remember everything that follows is intended for those hoping to target younger demographics of music fans.
October is here, and with it comes the celebration of Halloween. Some people claim Christmas to be the best holiday, but they are wrong. Anyone who lives for the unforgettable experiences that make life great knows Halloween, as well as the various traditions associated with it, offer more potential for fun and excitement than practically any other global tradition. Kids love it because they get to dress up and receive candy while pretending to be the people they see on TV or in movies, and older folks love it because they get to escape the realties of adulthood while drinking in a disguise. Everyone wins.
You know who else wins on Halloween? Brands who are smart enough to capitalize on our culture’s obsession with all things kooky and spooky during the month of October. It doesn’t take more than five minutes in your local Target or Wal-Mart to understand what I’m talking about either, as every department store spends six weeks or more leading up to Halloween marketing everything from candy and costumes, to home furnishings with some kind of ghost or spirit themed sale. They may have ‘Terrifyingly low prices,’ or ‘Ghoulish Offers,’ but varying puns aside the idea is always the same. The products being sold are changed for the holiday as well, with everyone from Yankee Candles to the makers of Twix trying to cater to seasonal shoppers. In fact, it’s hard to think of a single product outside cleaning supplies and bathroom necessities that doesn’t have at least one brand with a Halloween themed item on sale this year.
As an artist, you too can cash in on the international obsession with Halloween by creating your own, limited run merchandise based on the holiday. Create a shirt that is only available a limited time, or perhaps a print featuring a seasonal design or image. Sell stickers and buttons with your logo slapped on jack-o-lanterns and ghosts, or perhaps record and release a cover of something from ’The Nightmare Before Christmas.’ These items won’t appeal to everyone, but they will give your core fans an opportunity to buy an exclusive, limited edition item that will serve to further their connection to your brand.
Here are a few examples of Halloween merch being marketed this year:
As with any item being sold, the key to getting a strong response from seasonal merchandise is executing a great idea people will be unable to overlook. As you see in the example above, the possibilities are seemingly endless as far as approaches to Halloween merch as concerned, so take that as a sign that creativity is encouraged. Find something you love about this season, or something about this season you feel reflects your music, and use it to create something unique your fans can cherish forever.
A few key things to remember:
1. Do not steal anyone’s design/copyrighted materials. Doing so could result in legal troubles whose costs far outweigh any benefit associated with seasonal merchandise.
2. Order your product in time to ship it before Halloween. Receiving a Halloween themed shirt in the middle of November or December doesn’t really do anyone any good. Fans won’t wear it, and worse – they probably won’t order seasonal merch from you again. Think and plan ahead.
3. Targeted marketing helps. No one likes paying Facebook to reach their fans, but doing so can help sell new/limited merch items. Even as little as $5 can double, if not triple the reach of your average post. As the saying goes, “You have to spend money to make money.”
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Want to make seasonal merch, but don’t know what to offer? Ask your fans. They’re the ones who will ideally be buying whatever you create, so you might as well ask them what they want and do your best to meet their demands.
5. Turkey merch is not a thing. While you might be able to leverage Halloween, Christmas, and even Valentine’s Day for merch sales, Thanksgiving doesn’t create the same market. You can try, but you will more than likely fail.
James Shotwell is the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also a professional entertainment critic, covering both film and music, as well as the co-founder of Antique Records. Feel free to tell him you love or hate the article above by connecting with him onTwitter. Bonus points if you introduce yourself by sharing your favorite Simpsons character.
