Music Merchandise Reaches $3.1 Billion in Global Sales: How to Cash In
According to LIMA’s annual survey, music merchandising retail sales were one of the fastest growing property types in 2016.
While licensed goods and services cumulatively increased by 4.4%, reaching nearly $263 billion in sales, music merchandise grew at twice that rate, demonstrating a 9.4% increase year-over-year.
Retailers have gone beyond the regular inventory of music merchandise seen in stores and are experimenting. Select types of artist merchandise are granted high profile locations and big buy-ins for finite periods of time. Justin Bieber, Metallica and Lady Gaga have all utilized this method with great success.
There’s a lot to the music business. Sponsorships. Concerts. Ticket fees. Merchandise. Session wages.
The global music business, or at least the components tied to music copyright, is worth over $25 billion. But there’s much more money going around in the business — maybe $40 billion more coming from merchandise and other components such as sponsorships, concerts, ticket fees, session wages and etc.
Merchandise sales also correlate with music copyright. High profile, touring artists can make significant per-head money on merchandise sales at concerts. Taylor Swift, for example, makes an estimated $17 per head in merchandise sales at her shows. Even lower per-head figures can fund artists, managers, and, in the case of multi-rights deals, labels, too.
How to Sell More Merchandise
>Focus on quality and design. If you want to sell more, give your fans something worth owning.
>Get a better display. Your merch setup should be easy to see, organized, clean, and in a prominent location. Invest in a decent display; attention to aesthetics goes a very, very long way.
>Utilize to easy pay methods.
>Have the band members at the table. They can engage with their friends or fan base and promote their product at the same time.
>Offer an incentive. You can give away low-cost items such as stickers, posters, or buttons with the purchase of higher-ticket items like shirts or CDs.
>Wear and use the merch yourself; you are your own best advertisement.
>Send your email list reminders about merch and special prices.
>Announce it. When you’re playing, let people know you have merch and where they can find you.
>Promote it ahead of time. You can build excitement about new merch by talking about it on your social media sites. Get fans involved; ask for design ideas, favorite designs, desired types of merch, etc.
>Mark down older designs that you’re trying to get rid of. I use different price tags to announce the special.
>Make merchandise available for purchase on your website.
>Use social media influencers to promote your merchandise, and provide links to your products on your own social media pages.
Above all else, make sure your approach to merchandising is thoughtful, relevant to your music, and appropriate for your budget. It’s worth the investment, but only if it’s done in a way that advances your brand.
