Creative Merchandising ideas that fans will rave about
The music industry has radically changed over the years, making it harder for independent artists to sustain a career in music. Artists just simply can’t sustain a career in music by just selling albums, since digital streaming services are becoming more and more popular. One popular way of artists earning money, however, is selling merchandise for fans.
On top of that merchandise is also an excellent way to spread the word about your band around. The question is how do you make sure that fans will buy your T-shirts?
Know your audience
In order to understand what makes a T-shirt a good T-shirt, you need to understand your audience. Why does your audience buy merchandise?
A fan can buy merchandise because of:
- Support;
- Souvenir;
- Lifestyle;
- Gift;
- Design.
By understanding better why your audience buys merchandise, and what kind of things they are into, you will optimize your sales.
Example of great merchandising
PERIPHERY
When I personally think about merchandise, I always have the progressive metal act Periphery in the back of my mind. The band clearly understands their target audience, often refer to video games, memes etc. in their merchandise.
HEAVY METAL CHRISTMAS SWEATERS
When Christmas sweaters became more and more popular, metal bands immediately picked up on the hype, right on time for people to buy a Slayer Christmas Sweater or a Ghost Christmas Sweater. By following current fashion trends, you can pick up on what your audience might like in a sweater, hoodie or T-shirt.
HEAVY METAL BEER
The metal community is famous for drinking beer, that’s something that didn’t get by unnoticed by many metal bands, who now are also selling their own beer as well.
