Will T-Shirts Save Music? Results Of Hypebot’s Merchandise Sales Survey
(Updated) Are increased merchandise sales helping to offset lower revenue from recorded music sales? Or is that just another bit of new music industry wishful thinking? Just 34% of those that took Hypebot's recent poll thought merchandise was helping all that much. But the poll, while not a scientific survey, did offer insights and a bit of hope for musicians and labels working to develop new income streams. Of the respondents, 34% described themselves as musicians and 22% each said they were labels and managers. Another 22% dubbed themselves "other". The results:
When asked: "How do current merchandise sales compare to sales prior to the recession?" 42.3% said that sales were "about the same" – not bad in a struggling economy. 28.8% said that their sales are up though an equal number reported down sales. Individual results could also be caused by release and touring cycles, as well as, a rise or fall in fan interest for a particular artist.
When asked the size of the average total purchase, 56.3% said $15 – $25. 33% reported average total purchases of less than $15 and 10.4% have average sales over $25. These numbers would seem to reinforce other findings that show the importance of offering a variety of price points.
Asked next, "How much of your merchandise sales happens online rather than at gigs?", a surprising 27.3% reported that more than 50% of their sales are made online. 20.5% reported 25-50% and 31.8% reported online sales accounted for 10-25% of their total merchandise sales. 20.5% of musicians clearly need to work on their online presence reporting under 10% of merch revenue came via the net.
Take the survey. And how are you using merchandise sales to increase revenue?
This article annoys the heck out of me, music will save music, the creative mind of a freaking human being! Arts, you know? We need to change our concept of “success” when it comes to anyone making music and attempting to do something with it, and what it means to be saved in 2010. Not that this article or hypebot was really trying to say that, just referring to the title. 🙂
Can’t anyone at Hypebot spell check?!!? Wow, how annoying!
Hey, I dont know about Diego but my definition of “success” is being able to sustain yourself (personal bills, recording costs, touring costs) through your music…. and looking at music revenues over the last few years, music ALONE aint cutting it.
Also, in response to Diego’s strange argument; merchandising has been a huge part of any successful musician’s revenue.
Led Zeppelin was the first band to start major merchandising contracts, well actually it was Zep’s manager Peter Grant, and he and his thugs would go out and “intimidate” anyone selling unauthorized Zeppelin paraphernalia.
Simply calling yourself an “artist” does not put food on the table. That’s a mistake that millions of unknown musicians have made.
Mark Lewis, CEO
Partners In Rhyme Inc.
http://www.partnersinrhyme.com