SXSW Music 2015
Tour Merch: The most overlooked revenue in music
With traditional revenue streams changing in the music industry, artists depend more and more on touring income. Merch sales often exceed all other income for an artist and is the number one opportunity to monetize a fan base, yet few talk about it and fewer know how to maximize this revenue. This panel of experts will discuss how to manage this business, apply best practices, and increase tour merch profitability.
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Takeaways
- What are the 3 biggest money losing mistakes you see bands & their teams make when it comes to managing their tour merch?
- Is it better for a band to manage their own tour merch and work with a supplier or sign to a merch company that will manage their merch for them and what's the bottom line cost / benefit of each?
- With music retail all but obsolete, the merch table is the last physical music store. What are you doing to make it a better fan experience to encourage increased sales & do you leverage data to help?
- Venue fees are often a touchy subject as many see it as a cash grab from the artist. Many artist reps pride themselves on how well they hide money. Do you think it's fair they take a % of merch sales?
- As such a critical revenue stream, why is it many don't pay close attention to it & what can we do, as an industry, to improve business practices to increase merch sales & maximize revenue?
Speakers
- Ben Brannen, Co-Founder & President, atVenu
- Matt Young, SVP WMG Merchandising, Warner Music Group
- Karl Hensel, President, Kings Road Merch
- Ryan Chisholm, Artist Manager, A&R, Nettwerk Music Group
Organizer
Ben Brannen, Co-Founder & President, atVenu
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