Live Music Blog

The rewards of creating music range from the deep satisfaction of writing a new song to the glowing pride of a successful performance. These feelings bolster our confidence, but do little to compensate for the financial investment frequently tied to making music. While selling your music via CDs and downloads is a nice start, you ought to likewise think about investing in performer merchandise to encourage your performer 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 are still not making our living from playing the shows. Merch is where we make our profit.” In that same story, John might er commented on merchandise sales and the current state of the recording industry: ” You’re not making that much resources off records anymore, so until people might 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 can take in more than $1,000 a night selling merchandise, which makes the ‘merch table’ a major source of income why they’re on the road.”

While generating money is the most evident worth of performer merchandise, the valuable impressions made from exposure to potential listeners is just as vital. 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 wonderful 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 wide range of arresting designs. If you do not have the skills to establish the design, try cutting expenses by recruiting a graphic arts student to handle the project for you.

Once the perfect design is approved, identify the medium that will give you the greatest return. A quick Google search found a wealth of businesses dedicated to meeting the merchandise needs of independent musicians. 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 can be done at live shows or Web via your Web site. Start links at social music web sites like Echoboost.com to draw more traffic and use capture payment services, such as PayPal, to handle the monetary transactions. Email fan club members when new products become available and try provide ing special packages, bundling your CDs or downloads with t shirts, buttons and/or stickers to drive sales and spread the word about your music.

You shouldn’t let expenses drain your passion for music. Put your music to work for you with your own merchandise and keep making the music you love.