The calendar has turned, the seasons have changed, and the holidays are quickly approaching. While you are preparing for your holiday shows and trying to find that Jager-soaked Santa hat for the private party you booked, your band needs to be preparing for retail sales.
I doubt you look at the National Retail Federation (NRF) sales stats as part of your music business, but you should. If you did, you’d know that between 25-35% of your yearly sales will happen in November and December. You’d also know that up to 50% of those sales will be by ecommerce.
I mean, it’s kind of intuitive, right? Just like you, your fans need to buy Christmas presents and have a little more cash on hand to buy themselves something cool, too. Major labels knew this all too well, but I do not see as many independent artists taking advantage of this as they should. What normally happens is a band gets to December and they think, “Hey, we should sell something!” and by then it’s too late.
So, let’s get you started today.
First things first, you need to be able to sell stuff: digital and physical. Your website needs to have a “Shop” tab. This is where you can sell digital items or link to anything physical being sold elsewhere. Just to make this easy (without getting into discussion about profit margins and such), you should start a store on Printify. It’s free, and there are tons of products for you to place your design on for print on demand. No upfront fees, no storage, shipping is all done for you. Use the free version of Canva to design the templates if you don’t already use a design software.
Now, as to what you should sell; obviously, your music is the first place to start. I know, I know, you probably think “no one buys music anymore,” but it’s simply not true. CD sales are rebounding from harsh yearly declines, vinyl is growing, downloads are growing too–especially direct to fans. There is something happening with younger generations wanting connection, and now becoming old enough to “collect” things which are special.
The easiest way to do this is to hit up your email/text list with a “holiday” discount code for downloading music or having it emailed to them. You can use Bandcamp for this as well. With lead times, it’s probably too late to turn around vinyl, but you could totally get a CD and/or cassette release together. However, many of your fans already have your music or they stream it primarily, right? So, put together a rare and unreleased thing (if physical, include a QR code or download option) and then only offer it off of streaming platforms — now that is interesting.
We just worked with a band which did a campaign to sell a $150 USB drive with every single song they’ve ever recorded (including live shows and demos). They ordered custom USB drives with the band logo on it for under a few bucks a pop, and the shipping with a bubble pack was less than two dollars. They also included a handwritten note, which was a nice touch. Get this: nearly 30% of their fan list bought one. It bankrolled their next recording.
Let’s dig deeper. Of course your fans could get these anywhere, but it’s kind of cool to think they could support their favorite artist (and a small business) by buying things they already planned on anyway from you. All it will cost you is some time and effort in thinking and some design work.
Keep in mind your fans are shopping for quick gifts for others and maybe some cool schwag for themselves. So, make it easy. Hell, you can be their one-stop shop!
Here are 5 Holiday Merch ideas for you to execute this season.
- Ugly Sweaters: Lots of people have to buy an ugly sweater for a party or are throwing their own, why not get one from you? It doesn’t matter if they fit perfectly, so men and women are more apt to buy them online. Design one with all of the band making funny faces on it. Do one with one of your dirty lyrics in big ol’ font. DO NOT make this a cool sweater about your band’s logo. Just make it fun and controversial and, well, ugly! Pro Tip: give a discount to anyone wearing one to a show of yours during the season.
- Drinking Tumblers: None of us have enough coffee or water tumblers. I just bought another one today. You may not even be a “holiday” type of person, but I can guarantee you that some of your fans pull out the holiday themed cups, coffee mugs, etc. to get in the spirit. And they make great gifts for others. Design some fun and funky tumblers for your fans. Yes, you can create some that have funny pics of the band or even some song titles, but just make them crazy and holiday themed.
- Christmas Tree Ornaments: Now this is where you do want to highlight your band/artist. Use logos and pictures and really make it colorful to stick out, even ugly. This is for the fan to support you. Just think of all the bands you love, how many ornaments have you ever seen? It’s an untapped market, honestly.
- Tote bags: Everyone needs more and more shopping bags now. Some to keep in the car, some to keep in the kitchen drawer, some at work. Make a killer tote bag and people will use it again and again.
- Candles: Around the holidays, everyone stocks up on candles. These are dead simple to design. Use a song lyric, “I burn for you,” or something totally censored like, “Out of Fu*cks Candle.” The trick to these is to make the design simple so they look classy, but when a guest comes over and looks closer, it’s funny.
Keep in mind, this should be fun. Don’t overthink it. Don’t primarily focus on promoting the band/artist with these designs or it will look cheesy (unless that is what you are going for). Focus on proving a cool gift for fans and you will see results. You’ll want to send out an email or post about these offers at least six weeks before Christmas to ensure delivery.
In other words, do it now!
There you go, plenty of ideas for you to clean up this holiday season on merch sales and you didn’t even have to order four different sizes of t-shirts!