Why every Musician needs a Merch Strategy (and how to develop one)

For most musicians, merchandise sales are a top revenue source, exceeded only by live performance income. But selling merch is much more than slapping your logo (if you even have one) on a black t-shirt. Getting it right matters, and this guide from our friends at the musician website platform Bandzoogle shows how.

Guest post by Caleb J. Murphy

Merch is one of the biggest streams of income for musicians. 

In fact, musicians who use the music website platform Bandzoogle have earned over $100 million in revenue from their sites. And 75% of that was from merch sales. 

So collectively, Bandzoogle musicians have sold about $75 million in merch. 

The point is merch is an essential part of making money as a musician. You need to invest time and money creating unique, high-quality merch. 

Here’s how to do that…

Decide What Merch To Sell

Choosing what type of merch to sell is the foundation of your success with merch. So spend time building that foundation. A well-informed batch of merch can make or break your sales. 

Here’s how to figure out what merch will work for you…

Know your brand (and story)

Before you sell merch, you first need to know your brand. This can be difficult to pin down because a lot of it has to do with how people see you, and you’re not other people. 

To find your brand, look at your music. What’s a common vibe it has? What topics/themes do you usually write about? What type of people resonate with your songs?

Knowing these things will help you formulate your look, your website design, how you speak online, and ultimately your merch. 

Here’s a good exercise to help you find your brand:

1. Draw three circles so there’s a space where all three overlap
2. In one box, write down your values and beliefs
3. In the second box, list what you do (type of artist, genre, what instruments you play, any music-related skills, etc.)
4. In the last box, describe your ideal fan (their values, interests, preferred genres, etc.)

The space where these three circles intersect is where you want to build your brand. Let this guide how you speak to your fans, the content you create, and the story you want to tell. 

Speaking of story, it’s very important to know yours. It’s part of your brand and integral to succeeding with merch. Here’s an exercise to help you tell your story:

1. Open a document on your computer
2. Write out the story of your life starting from childhood (don’t worry about editing – no one will see this)
3. After a day or two, read through your life story and look for themes
4. Now synthesize your story onto one page, making sure you highlight the obstacles you’ve overcome and how they’ve transformed you as a person

This will help you get a much better idea of your brand and story. And this one-pager could also be your new artist bio.

Research what other artists are selling

Look at artists with a similar sound and vibe, and check out what they’re selling. You could even email or DM them and ask what piece of merch sells best for them. 

Also pay attention to how they promote their merch. Note any creative methods they use, like how and when they include some of their story.

If it’s working for artists like you, that’s a good place for you to start. So use other artists’ merch as inspiration for your own. 

Ask your fans

Your fans are the ones that will be buying your merch, so why not give the people what they want? And to know what they want, just ask them. 

Post a poll on social media asking people to vote on your different merch ideas. Or just ask them something like, “What’s the last piece of merch you bought from a musician?” Then use that to see what merch might work best for you.

Custom Merch vs. Scalable Merch

It may be a good idea to have a mix of custom merch and scalable merch.

Custom merch is usually handmade by you, meaning fans are getting something totally unique. They require you to invest a bit more time, but the payoff could be a new fan for life. Plus, you can sell custom merch for more than scalable merch. 

Scalable merch is any item that is easy and quick to produce, meaning you can make and sell a lot of them at once. Scalable merch has a lower price point than custom merch, which is good for fans who don’t have as much money but still want to support you. Think T-shirts, stickers, mugs, etc.

Digital Merch

Digital merch is nice because your fans can get a download right after they buy it. Examples of digital merch include chord sheets of your songs, a PDF lyric book, behind-the-scenes videos, and phone recordings of when you first wrote a song. These are all scalable and have little to no upfront cost. 

You can also offer custom digital merch, like a voice memo thank-you, a video shout-out, or even a personal concert. Again, because they’re custom, you can build a stronger connection with fans and charge more for each item.

Print-On-Demand Merch

Print-on-demand merch is exactly what it sounds like – when a fan orders a piece of merch, it then triggers the item to be made/printed and shipped. 

This is a great option for artists on a tighter budget because it doesn’t require you to buy a batch of, say, T-shirts upfront. It’s also nice to delegate the shipping process to someone else so you can focus on making music and engaging with your fans.

The best print-on-demand service for artists is Printful, which seamlessly integrates with your Bandzoogle website. Printful lets you quickly set up, design, and sell merch, all for no upfront cost.

Sell Merch Through Your Website

All of us are lazy to a degree, including your fans. So you need to minimize the steps between a fan seeing your social media post about your new merch and the fan actually buying it. The process needs to be smooth and easy. 

This is why you need a merch store on your website. You can easily link to it from your social media profiles. Fans who visit your website directly will see you have a merch page. And you can integrate a print-on-demand service as well as offer custom merch. 

For artists with a big enough fan base, merch just makes sense. It’s time to get your slice of that $75 million in merch sales.

Caleb J. Murphy is a singer/songwriter whose music has been on NBC, ABC, and in hundreds of indie film projects. He also sends a twice-monthly email to indie musicians called 5 Things To Help You Keep Going.