The rewards of creating music range from the deep satisfaction of writing a new song to the glowing pride of a successful performance. These emotions bolster our confidence, but do little to compensate for the financial investment generally tied to making music. While selling your music via compact discs and downloads is a nice start, you ought to likewise contemplate investing in band merchandise to promote your band and cover the fee of instruments, rehearsal spaces, recording equipment and more.
In a Rolling Stone article (7/04), Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba spoke about the importance of merchandise: “Merch sales are what kept us going. Even now, we’re still not making our living from playing the shows. Merch is where we make our profit.” In that same story, John may er commented on merchandise sales and the current state of the recording industry: ” You’re not making that much money off records anymore, so until people may figure out how to make a re-writable Hanes Beefy-T, merch is one of the final bastions of individuality, commerce and style that an musician has left.”
Echoing those sentiments, Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls related N Public Relations (1/17/07): “We make al the majority no money off our recordings themselves.” To earn a steady income, N Public Relations interviewer Chris Arnold noted that “The Dresden Dolls could take in more than $1,000 a night selling merchandise, which makes the ‘merch table’ a major source of income why they are on the road.”
While generating resources is the the majority undeniable benefit of performer merchandise, the valuable impressions made from exposure to potential listeners is just as necessary. Arming your current fan base with a fashionable marketing tool will only stimulate to encourage your performer and raise your profile. To this end, performers should take great care in creating logos and images that accurately reflects their sound and image while appealing to consumers. For inspiration, turn to Threadless.com for a broad range of arresting designs. If you do not have the skills to create the design, try cutting expenses by recruiting a graphic arts student to handle the project for you.
Once the best design is approved, identify the medium that will give you the biggest return. A quick Google search found a wealth of organizations dedicated to meeting the merchandise needs of independent artists. Here are just several of the deals out there: 100 printed t shirts for $405 at WeNeedMerch.com,
500 1″ buttons for $100 at BusyBeaver.net, 250 5.5″ x 1.42″ stickers for $25 at StickerGuy.com and 100 posters for $175 at BandWear.com.
Selling your band merchandise may be done at live shows or Online via your Web site. Establish links at social music websites like Echoboost.com to draw more traffic and use gain payment services, such as PayPal, to handle the monetary transactions. Email fan club members when new products become available and try offer ing special packages, bundling your compact discs or downloads with t shirts, buttons and/or stickers to drive sales and spread the word about your music.
You should not let costs drain your passion for music. Put your music to work for you with your own merchandise and keep making the music you love.
