How to Build a Merch Business as an Artist

Merch is a product business. Not a side project. Not a line item buried under touring income. A product business with its own design decisions, production economics, inventory management, and sales strategy. Artists who treat merch as an afterthought leave the highest-margin revenue stream in the business underdeveloped. Artists who treat it as a product line build a revenue source that generates income whether or not they are on stage.

This guide covers how to think about merch as a business: what to make, how to make it, how to price it, how to sell it, and how to grow it over time. For merch economics at live shows specifically (conversion rates, table setup, price point ladders), see How to Make Money From Live Music. For how merch fits into your overall revenue picture, see How Music Artists Actually Make Money.

Why Merch Matters

Merch is the rare revenue stream where you control every variable. You choose the product. You set the price. You own the margin. You keep the customer data. You are not dependent on an algorithm, a playlist, or a platform's payout rate.

The margins are substantial. A t-shirt that costs $5-$8 to produce sells for $25-$35, a margin of 70-80%. A hoodie that costs $12-$18 to produce sells for $45-$60. Even with print-on-demand (where you carry no inventory but pay higher per-unit costs), margins run 30-40% on most items. Compare that to streaming, where you earn fractions of a cent per play, or live performance, where expenses consume most of the gross revenue.

Merch also does something no other revenue stream does: it turns fans into walking advertisements. A fan wearing your shirt in public generates impressions that no ad budget can replicate. Every product sold is both income and marketing.

Product Strategy

The goal is not to fill a table with as many items as possible. It is to offer the right products at the right price points for your audience, starting small and expanding based on what sells.

Starting Out: Your First Products

If you have never sold merch, start with two or three items. Not ten. Not a full apparel line. A small lineup that is easy to produce, easy to manage, and gives you data on what your fans actually want.

The reliable starting lineup:

T-shirts are the foundation. They account for the majority of merch revenue for most artists. Start with one strong design in a unisex cut. Choose a blank that is comfortable and fits well (Bella+Canvas 3001 and Next Level 3600 are industry standards for a reason). A bad blank makes a good design feel cheap.

A low-cost impulse item fills the under-$10 slot. Stickers, enamel pins, patches, or buttons give fans who cannot afford a shirt something to buy. These items cost $0.50-$2.00 each and sell for $3-$5. The margins are excellent and they lower the barrier to a first purchase.

One premium item rounds out the lineup. A hoodie, a hat, or a vinyl record. Something in the $35-$60 range for fans who want to spend more. This captures the top end of your price range without requiring a full product catalog.

Expanding Your Line

Add products based on what sells and what fans request, not based on what other artists are doing. If t-shirts sell well, add a second design or a new colorway. If fans ask for hats, add a hat. If nobody is buying your poster, do not make a bigger poster.

Products that consistently sell across most artist merch lines: T-shirts, hoodies, hats (snapback and dad hat styles), vinyl records, tote bags, posters, stickers, enamel pins, socks.

Products that sell well for some artists depending on audience: Crewneck sweatshirts, long-sleeve tees, beanies, phone cases, bandanas, koozies, patches, cassettes, CDs (yes, still, particularly at shows).

Products to avoid until your line is established: Custom items with long lead times and high minimums (jackets, custom shoes, accessories). Items with high return rates (clothing with unusual sizing). Perishable or fragile items that complicate shipping.

Design

The design sells the product, not your name. A shirt with your logo in a generic font is not a product people want to wear. A shirt with a compelling design that happens to represent your brand is.

Hire a designer if you can. A freelance designer on Fiverr or through your network costs $50-$300 per design. That investment pays for itself on the first 5-10 units sold. If you are designing yourself, keep it simple: strong typography, limited colors, designs that are visually interesting from a distance.

Design for wearability. Fans wear merch in their daily lives. Designs that are too loud, too literal, or too "band tee" in a generic sense get worn to bed and never in public. The best artist merch is something a fan would choose to wear even if they did not know the artist. Look at what your fans actually wear and design merch that fits into their wardrobe.

Limit text on apparel. A design that requires reading is a design that does not work on a shirt. Your name or a lyric can be part of the design, but the visual impact should carry the product, not the words.

Production Methods

There are three primary approaches to producing merch. Each has different economics, risk profiles, and operational requirements.

Print-on-Demand

How it works. You upload your designs to a print-on-demand service (Printful, Printify, Gooten, Gelato). When a customer orders, the service prints the item and ships it directly to the customer. You never handle inventory.

Costs. Higher per-unit cost than bulk printing. A t-shirt that costs $5-$8 in bulk might cost $12-$18 through print-on-demand. Margins are lower: 30-40% instead of 70-80%.

Advantages. No upfront investment. No inventory risk. No unsold boxes of shirts in your closet. You can offer more designs and product types because there is no minimum order. Fulfillment and shipping are handled for you.

Disadvantages. Lower margins. Less control over print quality (quality varies between services and fulfillment centers). Longer shipping times (3-7 business days for production plus shipping). You cannot sell print-on-demand at shows because you do not have physical inventory.

Best for: Testing new designs before committing to bulk orders. Your online store when you do not want to manage inventory. Artists who are just starting with merch and want to minimize risk.

Bulk Printing (Screen Printing)

How it works. You order a quantity of pre-printed items from a screen printer. You receive the inventory and handle storage, fulfillment, and shipping yourself (or through a fulfillment service).

Costs. Lower per-unit cost. Screen printing runs $3-$8 per shirt depending on the number of colors, the quantity, and the printer. Setup fees (screens) add $25-$50 per color per design. Minimums are typically 24-72 units per design per size.

Advantages. Higher margins (60-80%). Better print quality (screen printing is the industry standard for apparel). You have physical inventory for shows, events, and direct sales. Faster shipping to customers since items are pre-made.

Disadvantages. Upfront investment. You pay for the full order before selling a single unit. Inventory risk: if a design does not sell, you are stuck with unsold product. You need storage space and a fulfillment process for online orders.

Best for: Designs you know sell (proven through print-on-demand or past sales). Merch for tour and live shows. Established merch lines where you can predict demand.

Hybrid Approach

Most artists at the growth stage use both methods. Print-on-demand for the online store (low risk, broad catalog) and bulk printing for live shows and proven bestsellers (high margin, physical inventory). This captures the benefits of both while minimizing the downsides.

The practical workflow: Launch a new design on print-on-demand. If it sells well (20+ units in the first month), order a bulk run for shows and for fulfilling online orders at higher margins. If it does not sell, remove it with no inventory loss.

Pricing

Pricing merch requires balancing margin, audience willingness to pay, and perceived value.

Price Point Framework

These are ranges. Your specific costs depend on your printer, your order quantity, and your product specifications. The principle is consistent: price at what the market will bear, not at a markup over cost.

Pricing Principles

Price at market rate, not cost-plus. Fans do not know (or care) what your shirt costs to produce. They evaluate price based on what similar products cost. If comparable artist tees sell for $30, price yours at $30 regardless of whether your cost is $5 or $8.

Maintain a price ladder. Offer items at multiple price points so fans at every budget level can buy something. A typical ladder: $3-$5 (stickers, buttons), $10-$15 (posters, pins), $25-$35 (t-shirts, hats), $45-$60 (hoodies, bundles). See How to Make Money From Live Music for how this applies to live show merch tables.

Do not underprice. New artists often price merch too low out of discomfort asking fans to pay market rates. A $15 t-shirt signals low quality even if the product is good. Price at market, deliver quality, and let the product justify the price.

Bundles increase average transaction value. A shirt plus a sticker for $30 (instead of $25 + $5 separately) feels like a deal while maintaining your margin. A vinyl plus a t-shirt bundle at $50 (instead of $30 + $30 separately) gives fans a reason to buy both.

Selling Online

An online merch store generates revenue between tours and shows, reaches fans who cannot attend live events, and creates a persistent storefront for your brand.

Platform Options

Your own website store. Shopify ($29+/month) or WooCommerce (free plugin, hosting costs) give you full control over branding, customer data, and the shopping experience. Shopify is the simplest to set up and manage. This is the best long-term option for artists who want to own the customer relationship.

Bandcamp. Takes 10% on merch (lower than most platforms). Strong discovery features. The audience on Bandcamp is predisposed to buying directly from artists. Best for physical music (vinyl, cassettes, CDs) and for artists whose audience overlaps with the Bandcamp community.

Big Cartel. Free for up to 5 products. Simple, artist-focused e-commerce. Good for artists who want a basic store without Shopify's monthly cost.

Print-on-demand storefronts. Printful and Printify integrate directly with Shopify, Big Cartel, and Etsy. You build the store; they handle production and fulfillment. The simplest setup for artists who do not want to manage inventory.

Making Online Sales Work

Photography matters. Product photos sell merch online. Flat-lay photos on a clean background are the minimum. Lifestyle photos (someone wearing the shirt, holding the vinyl) convert better. You do not need a professional shoot. A friend with a decent phone camera and good natural light produces usable photos.

Descriptions should be brief and specific. The product name, the blank brand and material (for apparel), the fit (true to size, runs small), and care instructions. Fans do not read long product descriptions. They look at the photo and check the price.

Shipping costs affect conversion. High shipping costs are the most common reason for abandoned carts. Offer flat-rate shipping or build shipping into the product price. Free shipping over a threshold ($50-$75) encourages larger orders.

Promote new drops. Merch does not sell itself from a store page. Announce new products through your email list (see Email Marketing for Artists), social media, and at shows. The launch period (first 48-72 hours) drives the majority of sales for most drops.

Selling at Shows

Live shows are the highest-conversion merch environment. Fans are emotionally engaged, physically present, and primed to buy. For the full breakdown of live merch strategy (table placement, conversion benchmarks, call-to-action from stage), see How to Make Money From Live Music.

What to bring. Your bestsellers and your low-cost impulse items. Do not bring your entire catalog to every show. Bring the items that sell and bring enough of them. Running out of your most popular size or design during a show is lost revenue.

Inventory planning per show. Estimate merch sales at 10-15% of expected attendance. If you expect 150 people, plan for 15-23 transactions. Stock accordingly, weighted toward your top sellers and most popular sizes (medium and large typically account for 60-70% of apparel sales).

Cash and card. Accept both. A Square or Stripe card reader costs nothing upfront and takes 2.6-2.75% per transaction. The sales you gain by accepting cards far exceed the processing fees you pay. Cash-only merch tables lose 30-50% of potential sales.

Track what sells. After every show, record what you sold, how many of each item, and in what sizes. This data drives your reorder decisions, tells you which designs to retire, and reveals patterns across markets and venue types.

Limited Drops and Scarcity

Limited-edition merch creates urgency and gives fans a reason to buy now rather than later.

Tour-exclusive items. A shirt or poster available only at shows on a specific tour. Fans who attend feel rewarded with something unavailable to anyone else. This drives both merch sales and attendance.

Limited online drops. A design available for one week or in a limited quantity (100 units, 200 units). Announce through email and social media with a specific window. When the window closes or the quantity sells out, it is gone. This eliminates the "I'll buy it later" hesitation that kills online merch sales.

Seasonal or release-tied merch. New merch tied to a new album, single, or music video creates a marketing moment that combines the release announcement with a product launch. Fans who are excited about the new music have something tangible to purchase alongside it.

Do not overuse scarcity. If every drop is "limited edition" and "only available this week," the urgency loses meaning. Reserve limited runs for genuinely special items and keep your core products (your bestselling shirt, your standard sticker pack) available consistently.

Inventory Management

Once you are selling bulk-printed merch, inventory management becomes an operational requirement.

Track inventory. A spreadsheet is sufficient for most artists. Columns: item, design, size, color, quantity on hand, quantity sold, reorder point. Update after every show and every batch of online orders. Shopify tracks inventory automatically for online sales but you need to reconcile it with live show sales manually.

Set reorder points. For your bestselling items, define a minimum stock level that triggers a reorder. If your black t-shirt in medium sells 10 units per month and your printer needs 3 weeks for production, set a reorder point at 15 units. This prevents stockouts without overordering.

Size distribution. When ordering apparel, allocate sizes based on your sales data, not based on even distribution. A typical starting distribution: 10% small, 30% medium, 35% large, 20% XL, 5% XXL. Adjust based on your actual sales. If your audience skews toward medium, increase that allocation.

Dead stock. Designs that do not sell become dead stock: inventory taking up space and tying up capital. If a design has not sold through 50% of its initial order in 3-6 months, mark it down or bundle it to clear inventory. Do not reorder.

Scaling Up

As your merch business grows, certain upgrades become worthwhile.

Fulfillment service. Once you are shipping more than 50-100 online orders per month, packing and shipping yourself becomes a time drain. Third-party fulfillment services (ShipBob, ShipStation integrated with a 3PL) store your inventory, pack orders, and ship them. Costs vary but typically run $3-$5 per order plus storage fees. The time you reclaim is worth the expense.

Designer on retainer. Instead of commissioning designs one at a time, work with a designer on an ongoing basis. 2-4 new designs per quarter keeps your line fresh and lets the designer develop a deeper feel for your visual identity. A retainer arrangement ($200-$500/month depending on output) is often more cost-effective than per-project pricing.

Merch manager at shows. A dedicated person running the merch table at every show. They handle setup, sales, inventory tracking, and teardown. This frees you to focus on performing and connecting with fans before and after the show. Pay is typically a flat rate per show ($50-$100) or a percentage of merch sales (10-15%).

Pop-up and direct-to-fan events. Once your audience is large enough, standalone merch events (pop-up shops, listening parties with exclusive merch, pre-show meet-and-greets with bundled products) become viable. These deepen fan engagement and drive high-margin sales outside the traditional show-plus-merch model.

Common Mistakes

Treating merch as an afterthought. Ordering 50 generic shirts with your logo the week before a tour is not a merch strategy. It is a missed opportunity. Plan your merch line with the same intentionality you bring to your music.

Too many products, too soon. A merch table with 15 items overwhelms fans and splits your inventory across too many SKUs. Start with 3-5 products. Add based on demand.

Ignoring quality. A cheap blank with a mediocre print reflects on your brand. Fans notice when a shirt shrinks after one wash or when the print cracks and peels. Invest in quality blanks and quality printing. The per-unit cost difference between a cheap blank and a good one is $2-$3. That difference determines whether fans wear the shirt once or for years.

No online store. If the only place fans can buy your merch is at shows, you are limiting your revenue to the nights you perform. An online store, even a simple one, captures sales from fans who discover you through streaming, social media, or word of mouth and want to support you immediately.

Not tracking data. If you do not know which designs sell, which sizes move, and which price points convert, you are guessing. Guessing leads to dead stock, missed reorders, and pricing mistakes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should I invest in my first merch order?

For a first bulk order, $300-$500 is a reasonable starting investment. That covers approximately 48-72 t-shirts (one design, multiple sizes) from a local screen printer. If that budget feels risky, start with print-on-demand for online sales (zero upfront cost) and invest in a small bulk order only for live shows.

Do I need to trademark my artist name before selling merch?

You do not need a trademark to start selling merch, but registering your trademark protects you as you grow. If someone else trademarks your name and begins selling products under it, resolving the conflict is expensive and disruptive. A trademark registration costs $250-$350 per class through the USPTO and is worthwhile once your merch is generating consistent revenue.

Should I sell merch on Amazon or Etsy?

These platforms can expand your reach but come with trade-offs. Amazon takes a significant cut and you compete with millions of sellers. Etsy takes lower fees and has a more creator-friendly audience but still owns the customer relationship. Your own store (Shopify, Big Cartel, Bandcamp) should be your primary channel because you own the customer data and control the experience. Marketplaces can supplement but should not replace your direct channel.

How often should I release new merch?

For most artists, 2-4 new designs per year is sustainable and keeps the line fresh. Time new releases to coincide with album or single drops, tour launches, or seasonal moments. More frequent drops are viable if you have a large, engaged audience that buys consistently.

Read Next:

• How to Make Money From Live Music

• How to Brand Yourself as an Artist

Plan Your Next Release:

Orphiq helps you coordinate merch drops alongside your release and marketing calendar so every product launch reaches your audience at the right moment.