Band merch breakdown

[Traxan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPWRSYX7Lo

Merch manager gets some details from a touring band on merch sales.

This jive with the experience of some of you?

[sicktwistedfreak]

I have known some of this from my days working in the business.

The question I have these days is this....I wonder what the average pay is for a merchandise manager for bands? It's been forever since I have been around those roles and I truly have no idea what they get paid.

[gtrjay]

Really digging this guys youtube channel. The economics on touring. Tour bus and merch are great.

[Neil Diamond Dave]

Off-subject, but still kinda on-subject:

Went to Dead and Co show at the Forum this year. Purchased a tee, the merch chick runs my card and flips the tablet over to me to leave a "tip to support the merch crew".

So, lemme get this right - I buy an overpriced tee at $60 - $75, and then I'm asked to leave a tip for the person who simply runs my card?

Tipping has gotten insane when you're tipping a merch table for absolutely nothing.

[gtrjay]

Tipping is out of control.
Interesting on merch. Been awhile since I bought merch at show.

However last year took our daughter to see The Weeknd at Ford Field in Detroit. No joke. I buy popcorn 2 waters for her and her friend. Lady turns around tablet and says please feel to add a tip so I am send my kids to college. Wtf!?!? I thought she was joking at first. I hit zero and walked away.

You handed me a water. $9 water.

[Neil Diamond Dave]

Tipping is out of control.
Interesting on merch. Been awhile since I bought merch at show.

However last year took our daughter to see The Weeknd at Ford Field in Detroit. No joke. I buy popcorn 2 waters for her and her friend. Lady turns around tablet and says please feel to add a tip so I am send my kids to college. Wtf!?!? I thought she was joking at first. I hit zero and walked away.

You handed me a water. $9 water.

Yes, this should be illegal. And I'm sure the companies are paying these workers less than they should, because they get "tips" now. I'm ready for the parking lot attendants to start flipping over their tablets for their 20%, right after I've paid an outrageous $50 - $60 for parking.

[VincentVanWinger]

Went to a show at the United Center in Chicago. Wife buys 3 cokes. $36! She’s like wait they are $10/per.

They automatically add a 20% tip. The button to customize your tip is I guess tiny and in the corner and they rush you so you don’t catch on til it’s too late. I was going to get food later on but after hearing that I said forget it. I’ll eat after.

The person poured 3 cups and handed them over and that’s worth $6 when you are already paying $6 more than a fucking cup of soda should cost?

Unless it’s a sit down place with actual service I hit NO TIP every time. Fuck them.

[Hair I Go Again]

The main takeaway that the venues are making more than the bands is accurate (in the micro, at least).

There are two types of shows when it comes to merch -- "artist vends" (where the band's own tour merch rep mans, or at least oversees, the merch sales him/herself) and "venue-sells" (where the venue has their own crew handle the sales). It's kinda hard to compare apples to oranges since a venue incurs add'l expenses on a venue-sells show that they wouldn't on an artist-vend, and their house cut usually changes based on which type of show it is, but for the sake of conversation...

80/20 is a fairly common split. That means the artist gets 80% and the venue gets 20%. If it's an artist-vend show, that means the venue gets 20% for doing absolutely nothing except providing a small amount of real estate that would otherwise go unused (meaning, it's not like they're losing out on ticket sales on account of having to make room for a merch table). The artist's 80%, meanwhile, has to cover all of the startup costs -- manufacturing, artwork, shipping, salary of the crew member, transpotation, credit card processing, etc. -- which more than likely makes their profit margin less than the 20% that the venue pockets for doing nothing. That's the heart of the problem. If it was a reciprocal sort of thing where venues where would give bands a piece of the bar action and bands would give venues a piece of the merch (or they just canceled each other out), it would be one thing.

There was a festival earlier this month that charged bands a 30% fee to sell merchandise in addition to a 5% credit card fee (which, in reality, was probably less than 3% -- it might not sound like much, but it adds up fast). There was also local sales tax (let's call it 7.5% for the sake of conversation, but in some markets, it's now 10%+). This means that for every $40 shirt that was sold, $17 -- nearly half! -- went to someone outside the band. The remaining $23 needs to cover all of the other expenses mentioned above, and then whatever's left is divided by X number of band members, their manager, etc.

Obviously, it's going to cost money to make money to some extent no matter what -- the state isn't going to waive sales tax, and Visa isn't going to generously decline to charge a CC processing fee -- but it's the rest of the shit that ends up making concert shirts cost a fortune to buy.

[DemonFilth2001]

Watch the vid. If I remember it correctly...the band walks away with about 10% in total profit.

[BadDogWater]

I bought a few shirts in the 80s. But why would you but a shirt at the venue nowadays? You can buy it for half the cost anytime online. You can have it before you even go to the show. I can see buying one for your date if your hoping to get lucky. But othereise forget it.

[BadDogWater]

I bought a few shirts in the 80s. But why would you but a shirt at the venue nowadays? You can buy it for half the cost anytime online. You can have it before you even go to the show. I can see buying one for your date if your hoping to get lucky. But othereise forget it.

[tooth]

If I'm going to a venue, I'll always make sure to have a bunch of single dollars. So when they flip that screen around it's "Custom Tip", "0%" then hand a couple/three bucks, maybe.

[MetalSludgeCEO]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPWRSYX7Lo

Merch manager gets some details from a touring band on merch sales.

This jive with the experience of some of you?

This is 100% NOT ACCURATE.... for 98% of ALL bands on tour. Not even close.

First off, because next to nobody makes $126,000 Euros or $140,000 U.S. Dollars nightly in merch sales.

Secondly... the amount of over-charged, inflated fees across the board is beyond ridiculous.

Also the same reason why, I won't ever sign with ANY of the labels out there... I mean... why would I?

Seeing randoms including other bands, making comments like "Stevie is just jealous Tuff isn't on Frontiers..." blah, blah, blah... is beyond laughable.

Bitch pleez...

$tEvil

[BDG135]

Offer to debate this guy!

[Tommy2Tone84]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPWRSYX7Lo

Merch manager gets some details from a touring band on merch sales.

This jive with the experience of some of you?

This is 100% NOT ACCURATE.... for 98% of ALL bands on tour. Not even close.

First off, because next to nobody makes $126,000 Euros or $140,000 U.S. Dollars nightly in merch sales.

Secondly... the amount of over-charged, inflated fees across the board is beyond ridiculous.

Also the same reason why, I won't ever sign with ANY of the labels out there... I mean... why would I?

Seeing randoms including other bands, making comments like "Stevie is just jealous Tuff isn't on Frontiers..." blah, blah, blah... is beyond laughable.

Bitch pleez...

$tEvil

Who started with all the inflated fees? Was it Ticketmaster or the venues?

Sludgers actually say that? I’m a rube but I admire you (I’m sure you’re flattered) and totally get why you started your own label. Sure, there is probably a lot of back rubbing and hand jobbing over at Frontiers and you could probably get on some more upstage European festivals, but at what cost? You don’t do too shabby at all with your DIY model.

Question: If you had to do it over again, would you have started your own label in the late 80s and went after a distribution/promotion deal with a major instead of signing with an Atlantic subsidiary?

On an unrelated note, we still disagree on Pete Willis and Bert Miracles.

[SterileEyes1]

Really digging this guys youtube channel. The economics on touring. Tour bus and merch are great.

Same. Tank is great. Also it’s not his intent but I consistently take the lesson from his videos that “success in this industry is not all it’s cracked up to be”

[DemonFilth2001]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPWRSYX7Lo

Merch manager gets some details from a touring band on merch sales.

This jive with the experience of some of you?

This is 100% NOT ACCURATE.... for 98% of ALL bands on tour. Not even close.

First off, because next to nobody makes $126,000 Euros or $140,000 U.S. Dollars nightly in merch sales.

Secondly... the amount of over-charged, inflated fees across the board is beyond ridiculous.

Also the same reason why, I won't ever sign with ANY of the labels out there... I mean... why would I?

Seeing randoms including other bands, making comments like "Stevie is just jealous Tuff isn't on Frontiers..." blah, blah, blah... is beyond laughable.

Bitch pleez...

$tEvil

Who started with all the inflated fees? Was it Ticketmaster or the venues?

Sludgers actually say that? I’m a rube but I admire you (I’m sure you’re flattered) and totally get why you started your own label. Sure, there is probably a lot of back rubbing and hand jobbing over at Frontiers and you could probably get on some more upstage European festivals, but at what cost? You don’t do too shabby at all with your DIY model.

Question: If you had to do it over again, would you have started your own label in the late 80s and went after a distribution/promotion deal with a major instead of signing with an Atlantic subsidiary?

On an unrelated note, we still disagree on Pete Willis and Bert Miracles.

I’ll take a crack at answering this. Like Stevie…

Back in 1989-1993 cheap home studios sounded like cheap home studios.

You NEEDED the upfront cash to get into a proper studio with a proper producer.

With no labels, you couldn’t get on decent tours/shows. Remember, no YouTube, Spotify, and Facebook.

With no label, you aren’t getting press. Not showing up in Metal Edge.

Simply put, you HAD to be on a label for that dream of real success.

Now? You can sell on social media and from your site. You can get gigs (using your established name…that the label helped build).

You can record an album from your cheap home studio that sounds damn good.

Times changed. Why pay Frontiers for something that can be done alone? Easily?

Keep all the money. Initial outlay now is simply much lower.

Now. Go to my site and buy some fucking beanies and tshirts!

[MetalSludgeCEO]

Really digging this guys youtube channel. The economics on touring. Tour bus and merch are great.

Agree... he's great... very knowledgeable, etc..

But this merch thing seems WAY off... even he said he was blown away by this.

I mean... they grossed $126,000 Euros and in the end, had less than 10% left over? Ummm. no.

Also.. he found a few numbers, that he felt were typos... $160.00 turned into $1,600.00? Ummm... also no.

Management sucks ball bag and is letting this band gets hosed or... management are IN ON IT!

$tEvil

[gtrjay]

Really digging this guys youtube channel. The economics on touring. Tour bus and merch are great.

Agree... he's great... very knowledgeable, etc..

But this merch thing seems WAY off... even he said he was blown away by this.

I mean... they grossed $126,000 Euros and in the end, had less than 10% left over? Ummm. no.

Also.. he found a few numbers, that he felt were typos... $160.00 turned into $1,600.00? Ummm... also no.

Management sucks ball bag and is letting this band gets hosed or... management are IN ON IT!

$tEvil

Hollywood accounting or Enron style accounting?

[Traxan]

Really digging this guys youtube channel. The economics on touring. Tour bus and merch are great.

Agree... he's great... very knowledgeable, etc..

But this merch thing seems WAY off... even he said he was blown away by this.

I mean... they grossed $126,000 Euros and in the end, had less than 10% left over? Ummm. no.

Also.. he found a few numbers, that he felt were typos... $160.00 turned into $1,600.00? Ummm... also no.

Management sucks ball bag and is letting this band gets hosed or... management are IN ON IT!

$tEvil

Don't forget this was in Europe and they had a massive VAT tax we don't have here.

[Old_Man_Dokken]

If you are only getting 10% from selling merch then I would find some other way to sell merch. Have people outside the venue selling shirts for cash and pocket all the profit.

[El Vampiro Blanco]

If you are only getting 10% from selling merch then I would find some other way to sell merch. Have people outside the venue selling shirts for cash and pocket all the profit.

Well, the 10K per day for a popup truck outside the venue did not really jive with me.
The cost seemed really out of whack compared to the revenue.

[Traxan]

I wonder who the band is. I mean, how many bands are touring Europe right now that can sell $140k in merch, besides Metallica?

[El Vampiro Blanco]

I wonder who the band is. I mean, how many bands are touring Europe right now that can sell $140k in merch, besides Metallica?

Metallica and Rammstein just did major stadium tours... 50-60K attendance per show, so it ain't them... KISS was just here, the 11K attendance makes sense there. Other than that, no idea who just recently was able to draw 11K.

[Psychobolia.com]

A year ago, Mayhem posted on the social media a picture of their van, as they were going to sell their stuff outside the venue and not inside, as they weren't down with the venue cash-grab.

Good for them, other similar-sized (500 fans/gig) bands should do the same.