Whether you’re a solo artist or in a band, selling merchandise is going to make up a big part of your livelihood. This sometimes doesn’t sit well with those of us who have a slight anti-commercialism streak or don’t want to “push” our product on people. But the fact of the matter is, to keep doing what you love, you need to get paid - and getting paid means selling more stuff. Here are some ways you can achieve that goal.
I can’t stress how important this is in the 21st century. While cash may end up being the primary way fans pay for your stuff, an increasing number of people are choosing to pay with plastic. This can pose a problem for an indie artist without access to a credit card machine – in this day and age, that could easily mean missing out on a sale. Sure, you can always refer them to your website, but what are the odds they’ll remember to visit it later? You’re much more likely to capture a sale in the moment.
Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to catch up with the modern age. Square, Flint, Paypal and PayAnywhere are just a few options to help you get started.
I’ve seen way too many artists who - as an afterthought – mumble that they have merch and CDs available. Most sound like they’re finally confessing some embarrassing secret. I’ve been on both sides of the microphone, and I can relate – it makes a lot of artists feel cheap and sleazy to sell merch from the stage. As an audience member, though, I want to hear about it – especially if I like their stuff! If they mumble and act like they’re embarrassed about it, it makes me question why they’re so reluctant to sell their stuff. Is the CD a bad recording? Does the band hate the songs? Are the T-shirts made of crap material? Odds are, you care about the stuff you put out. You’ve put thought and heart and soul into it. So act like it. Get up there and sell it – talk about how cool the T-shirt designs are, or how proud you are of your new CD (which is available tonight for a special price, by the way…). You have the attention of the audience, and you have a microphone. These are huge advantages! Use them!
And selling your stuff doesn’t mean dragging out a beat up box with all your T-shirts, CDs, and stickers stuffed inside willy nilly. You’re a band, not a rummage sale. Invest in something as simple as a card table with a neat banner, or a table cloth. Find some neat way to hook the crowd into coming to your table – whether that’s cool lights, or some sort of table top game, whatever…the possibilities are endless. I promise, the minute you start to take pride in your product, you will suddenly have more money – and more fans.
The era of the CD is rapidly fading – in fact, many would argue it’s already gone. Invest in download cards as well as physical CDs. You may actually find you sell more of these, and often they’re cheaper to produce than CDs. Many bands drop the proverbial ball here, spending time thinking about album art and layout and almost no time on a strategy to get their music into iPods. Speaking of that, you do have a digital strategy, don’t you? Is your music available on CDBaby, iTunes, and any of the dozens of other download providers? And most importantly, is it available to stream and/or download on your website? Speaking of that…
More to the point, have a website with your merch actually on it and a way to buy it. I’ve been to sites for indie bands that were just designed poorly, or even had a “coming soon” section for their stuff – for months! We live in a society of instant gratification – we want it now, downloaded immediately. Your fans may lose interest if they wait months for a reliable way to purchase your stuff. There’s no excuse these days not to have a great looking website, much less one that functions smoothly.
This may sound counterintuitive, but trust me – it works. I’ve played shows where the merch table was swarmed by teenagers with money to burn. And I’ve played shows in economically stricken areas with people who I knew full well loved the music and would buy something if it was only a few bucks cheaper. It’s easy to say “This is the price, period”, but remember the bigger picture – you want people talking about how great your music is and wearing your logo. Even better, talking about how nice you were to give them a discount. I always set a certain amount of stuff to give away at shows, and I always tried to gauge the area I was playing as well. Sometimes we’d play a gig and merch would be on sale - 25% off. Sometimes it would be full price. This may sound sleazy, but it’s not – you’re essentially a travelling store and you need to cater to what the market will support. If your audience is poor college kids, you’ll sell way more $10 T-shirts than $15 ones. Another tip – always keep an eye out for the people who really love the music. Bend over backwards for them, if you can. Trust me, it goes a long way.
Feature image by: Alexander Rentsch