New Converts pay the most $$$
Lovers do the most when their relationship is new. They text more often, laugh hard at each other’s silly jokes, wait forever for either of them to cut the call, kiss in public, and tell the world about their newly found love. However, these little acts fade as their relationship ages.
The same thing can be said about music fans. Although your day-one fans will always be the ones to defend you when you get involved in scandals or when you clash with your music rivals, it is the new converts that would be willing to spend their money on your merch in the first week of release without much marketing.
Stats for nerds: According to Spotify, new fans are 7.8 times more willing to cop your merch a day after they hop on your music, and they are 7.0 times more likely to donate to your fundraiser account.
More Music Release; More Merch Sales
Unless you are Ye or Rihana, it may be challenging to get your fans to buy your merch when you are not releasing a new album or single.
The media buzz artists get during a music release, their once-in-a-blue-moon interaction with fans, and the buildup of FOMO across their
fan social media group pages make it almost impossible for the core fans not to purchase their new merch.
Stats for nerds: According to Spotify, artists get the most merch clicks 24 days after a fresh release. Fans are 7.2 times more willing to cop your merch on release days compared to other days, 4.0 times more in the first week compared to other weeks, and 2.1 times more in the release month compared to other months.
The most followed artists make more sales
Are you surprised that artists with many followers sold more T-shirts than those with fewer followers? No? Me neither. I mean – you don’t expect an upcoming artist with less than 100,000 overall followers to have more sales than Drake. But, it is what it is.
Stats for nerds: In line with the November Spotify fan study, 67% of fans who clicked on an unspecified artist’s merch were those who playlisted their tracks, liked their tracks, or followed their Spotify account.
Black is the key to more sales
Spotify noticed that 50% of the T-shirts by artists were black, while white and grey T-shirts made up 30% of the overall T-shirts stocked. The reason thousands of artists prefer to use black T-Shirts is that all colors pop with a black background, making it harder for fans not to notice your new merch. So if you want all the attention, join the #teamblack.
Stats for nerds: The colors – grey, blue, green, red, yellow, pink, and purple – dipped below 10%, according to Spotify Fan Study (merch edition). In addition, 50% of the T-shirts attached to artists’ profiles were black, while about 20% were white.
Stand out or get lost
Fans are not stupid. No one is willing to put their hard-earned cash on some crappy generic T-shirt because the face of their favorite artist is featured on the merch.
So boss up and hire the best designer to help you create amazing designs. The automated merch designers won’t help you.
Treat your merch the same way you treat your music (we assume you care about the music); no artist in their right mindset would use an automated mixing tool or put out music that’s not on par with the current industry standards. So why then should you do that to your merch?
Stats for nerds: Sorry, no stats available for this section.
My Christmas Gift to You
2021 is the year to bury the idea that DSP sales alone can sustain you in the music business. It does not work that way. Ye did not become a billionaire because he had 10 number one albums. Rihanna did not attain the Forbes billionaire status because of her Grammys. At a point in time, these two artists have complained about the low pay they get from music sales. Hence, they are billionaires because they started selling something different than their music – physical merch. Ye has Yeezy, and Rihana has Fenty.
What do you have? Yes, you.
