Think Outside the Box with Your Merch
When it comes to merch people tend to think of the big three: vinyl, CDs, and tees. But nowadays it might be a good idea to try something new.
Most artists I speak to want to press their album onto vinyl, whether they can afford it or not. Pressing your LP or EP to vinyl doesn’t come cheap. If you don’t have the fanbase, it might be awhile before you earn your money back.
While CDs are a little more economical to make, again, if you don’t have a decent fanbase it might be awhile before you earn a profit.
According to Statistics Canada, vinyl records were up 34.5% from 2021 to 2023, accounting for 13% of all sound recording sales in 2023. Compact disc sales were down 19.8% in 2023. Purchased downloads were also down 28.1% in 2023.
This raises the concern that not everyone in your audience has a record player. Nowadays, even fewer people seem to have CD players. This is why it might be a good idea to look elsewhere when trying to sell merch.
Merch can be any branded product. The most obvious choice is to do a run of tee shirts. Not only do you make money from the sale, but that person is now a walking billboard for your brand. But it’s worth considering selling less common items, too. I recently went to watch a friend’s band on a hot sunny day and was surprised and delighted to see them selling sunglasses with their logo on the side, as well as frisbees with their logo. They’ve since added bottle openers, bucket hats, snapback hats, along with the usual tee shirts.
For another example, years ago there used to be a band in Vancouver called Douse who sold homemade soap at their merch table. Caught off guard by the novelty of it, I purchased a bar just because I thought it was a unique item for a rock show. Turns out the singer had a side hustle selling their soap directly to customers throughout the city. I ended up becoming a regular soap buyer from them for years (until they moved away, actually).
One thing that I’ve recently started doing is selling booklets of my latest release. It’s a 32-page booklet containing studio and tour photos, lyrics, liner notes, and short anecdotes about each song. The book has a QR code on the back to bring people to a streaming link on the album. They scan the code, listen to the album, and read about it in the booklet. The main benefit of this is it provides additional context to the songs, enriching the listening experience. As a bonus, these booklets are far, far cheaper to make than vinyl, CD, or tee shirts.
Over the years, I’ve seen other unique items show up on merch tables: homemade jewelry, socks, postcards, paintings, water bottles, keychains, sage bundles, and more. And I’m always surprised and excited to see something new and interesting at a merch table. My intent is always to support the band, but if I get a cool little keepsake, too, all the better.
https://www.francisbaptiste.ca/
Francis Baptiste is an Indigenous songwriter who covers topics of cultural reclamation, addiction, and fatherhood.