Make Merch That Fans Actually Want to Wear

Artist: Andre Budo

Do you feel like your music isn't reaching as many people as it could? Are you struggling to grow your fanbase? Do you want people to follow your journey instead of listening to one song and moving on? Do you want to keep being a starving artist? These are the biggest issues for every artist starting out.

If these issues persist, your career will go nowhere. They're the most important barriers you need to break or you'll be trapped in a cycle of releasing music to no one. That cycle leads to burnout, burnout with little to no return, adding an emotional element to it. Turning your passion into a career and then into a burden is not the type of progression any artist should see. Falling out of love with music is painful, your artistry not being recognized is devastating, and not having the creative freedom that comes with financial freedom is limiting your potential.

You need to reach people so your music gets heard. You need to grow your fan base to make money. You need people to follow your journey to create an impact. You need to stop being a starving artist to fully dedicate yourself to your dreams. This goes back to the creative/financial freedom parallel. When you're making money from your passion, you can spend all your time on that passion without worrying about whether your next paycheck will cover your rent and pay for the food in your fridge.

Merchandise solves all of these problems to various degrees. Merch can serve as a walking billboard, by creating brand recognition, and that brand recognition turns into growth if the merch is interesting enough or if they see it enough times. Merch allows your fans to become more connected to you and is a key way for them to show support, to the point where a superfan will buy a piece of merch even if they don't like the design just to support the artist. So, giving something they actually want will do wonders to make your fanbase happy as well as put money in your pockets. That's what it also does: make you money. Merch sales make up 20-30% of the income of artists on average. That increase in revenue can unlock new levels of freedom within your career. Now going back to the point about giving the fans what they want, your fans are 50% more likely to buy merch from you if they like the design and quality of the product. Even when it comes to people who don't know you exist yet, 85% of people who buy merch in general buy it just because they like the way it looks, even if they don't know whose merch it is.

Now, how do you make merch that people want to buy? You hire a designer whose art style you like or who would be a good fit for what you want to make. They don't have to necessarily specialize in merch, but if they know the basics and you think they can bring your vision to life, that's all that matters sometimes. Think of someone like Takashi Murakami, he doesn't specialize in album art, but he has made some of the most iconic pieces of album art in music. So as long as the artist is a good fit, they don't have to specifically be a merch designer, BUT it's a plus if they are because they'll most likely have more of an understanding of the print side of merch design. Finding someone to work on your merch is easy nowadays. Just browse through social media or Google local artists, and spend some time researching and looking through people's work, and you'll find multiple people you would want to work with. I hope this taught you something, and if you want to know more or have any questions, email me and we can talk about it, or join my newsletter for more tips. Also, you can watch this video below that goes more in-depth about how merch makes you money.