Complete Guide to Music Merchandising for Musicians
Becoming a successful artist is not all about knowing how to sing and perform on stage. There are other important aspects that music artists should consider to maintain a successful music career.
Music merchandising is one of the best options for an artist with a good loyal fan base. Whether t-shirts, hoodies, hats, or stickers, music merchandising is a perfect route to a successful music career.
It will expand your influence in the music industry and strengthen your relationship with your fans. Above all, it’s a great way to get your brand and music out and make extra money from your fans.
So, how exactly can you develop and sell your music merchandise?
Develop a Brand Identity
This is the manner you present yourself in public. It represents the brand’s essence, the values, how you communicate your product, and what you want people to feel when interacting with you.
Your brand identity is your personality and a promise to your followers. However, before you venture into developing a brand identity, there are important things you need to put into consideration.
- What do you want people to remember about it?
- How do you want your fans to feel when wearing it?
- Research your audience, value proposition, and competition.
- What message do you want to pass through your music merchandise?
- Make the content of your music reflected in it.
- Integrate the language you use to connect.
You want to ensure that your brand is easily recognizable and will appeal to your target audience.
Be Creative and Professional
Creativity differentiates you from other artists. You must not settle for the regular t-shirts, hoodies, or hats. Instead, you can think outside the box and create unique and professional music merchandise.
Get professional designers involved to ensure your gear is desirable. Several unique options include bracelets, magnetic poetry, and unique arts. For example, popular female American rapper Cardi B sells Gang Earrings.
When you have a better idea of your budget and desirable merchandise, decide whether it will be custom or scalable. This gives some flexibility to offer various items at different prices and accommodates many fans.
Custom or scalable merchandise can be physical or digital, subject to your discretion.
- Scalable Physical Merch: it refers to items that can be easily produced. For instance, stickers, phone cases, posters, t-shirts, hoodies, etc. Again, it’s necessary to have a good mix of something within this category that is best for you and your fans.
- Scalable Digital Merch: This allows you to make huge returns with little upfront investment in time or money. Since you will bypass the process of production and shipping, all revenue you earn in this category is pure profit.
A perfect example of this category is a nicely formatted eBook of your album lyrics and perhaps additional lyrics or poetry no one has ever seen.
- Custom Physical Merch: Customized merchandise is more difficult and time-consuming to reproduce than scalable ones. Its advantage is that it can sell at higher prices. For example, the handwritten lyric sheet of your song or posters with your autograph.
- Custom Digital Merch: Custom ringtones, audio or video messages where you are saying the fan’s name and making the recording personal is a perfect example. It works best if your budget is tight and you have a lot of free time. Just like custom physical merchandise, you can charge a lot more for it.
Build Strong Relationships
People buy music merchandise at gigs because it’s a shared experience they want to remember. Therefore, it is necessary to have a good relationship with your fans. When they love you, they will do anything for you. Also, have good relationships with your designers, paparazzi, manager, and distribution teams.
Stay Culturally Relevant
When your fans prefer stickers or posters, there is no point in making hoodies. Instead, identify the kind of merchandise your fans actually want. The people you influence as an artist determine the kind of merchandise you put out. Ask yourself the following questions.
- Who follows you?
- Who engages with you the most?
- Is the better part of your followers Male or Female?
- How old are they?
- Their lifestyle?
All these will enable you to choose perfect and scalable merch you can easily produce and sell.
Always Watch Out for Fake Items
There are possibilities for some companies or individuals to start selling fake versions of your merchandise. Their fraudulent activities are capable of ruining yours. Therefore, you should watch out for those companies and report them to the appropriate authorities.
Track Your Inventory
Suppose you have never sold anything to your fans before. In that case, you should keep an exhaustive inventory for any orders you place. Be it bulk or unit orders. You can also take the pre-order of the first batch of production after you have put up the samples for your fans to see.
Research What Other Successful Artists are Selling
Do some research and better understand what other artists are selling. This research can be narrowed down to artists with a similar genre, brand identity, and followers. This will give you a better idea of what to sell.
Don’t Expect to Make a Lot of Money Immediately
The revenue you get from music merchandising is subject to your fan base. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume you won’t make a huge amount of money immediately. So instead, use it as an additional revenue system to support your main income.
The Best Way to Merchandize Your Music as a Musician
Merchandising your music is rewarding, but the truth is that it requires considerable time and effort if you’re to be good at it. From picking a design to printing your merch and selling it, the whole process can be tedious and daunting, especially if you have little experience in music marketing.
Fortunately, companies like GUIÓN PARTNERS exist so that you don’t have to go through the experience alone. At GUIÓN PARTNERS, we are committed to helping you promote your music and brand identity. We take over the merchandising and marketing aspect of your music, leaving you ample time to focus on what you make best, music.
With us as part of your team, you can rest in the knowledge that your brand and music will be promoted and marketed professionally. So, if you’re looking for a team to help with your merchandising and marketing, look no further than GUIÓN PARTNERS.
We are the best in the business, and we promise to deliver quality services that will leave you satisfied. Get in touch with us today, and let’s make your music merchandising dreams a reality.