Whether you're already a dedicated performer or you're just starting your musical journey, it's important to realize that independent musicians wear many hats outside of music creation, and one of those hats is as a promoter of your own work. Band merchandise is a perfect way for musicians to promote their music, expand their music marketing, connect with fans, and earn extra revenue; but it's also a competitive market, which means you have to create merch that's unique, on brand, and cool enough to entice your fans to buy it.

Let's explore some merch ideas for musicians, from hats and hoodies to custom mugs, tote bags, and vinyl records, plus some important points to consider as you design and develop your merch line and your online store.

Merchandise For Musicians: 3 Things to Consider

1. Understand your target audience

The first thing to consider when making musician or band merch is to learn about your target audience. Understanding your fans' merch preferences will enable musicians to create merchandise that will really resonate with them; you might even consider doing a poll on social media or your website to ask what kind of merch they'd like to buy. Your merch should also be something that you really like - if you wouldn’t buy it, how can you expect your fans to buy it?

If your audience is predominantly teenagers, then you might want to focus on merch items like trendy colorful backpacks, posters, phone cases, and snapbacks. 30-somethings might prefer custom mugs, keychains, tote bags, and more upscale limited edition embroidered hoodie designs. And pretty much everyone enjoys a classic band t-shirt! Another great merch resource idea is to observe other bands/artists in the same genre as yours; check out their merch stores to get a better idea (without copying, of course) of what types of items are in-demand with their fanbase. 

2. Develop a brand identity

Developing a brand identity is vital when creating band merchandise. Your merchandise should be an extension of your music, personality, and brand identity, showcasing your unique traits and style. Representing your primary music genre can also be an important component of music marketing and merch creation.

For example, if the musician is primarily a reggae artist, then their merchandise should reflect that by featuring vibrant reggae elements such as Rasta colors and symbolism. For a folk-pop artist, you could focus on merch featuring elements of nature accented with earth tones and pastels, while a vaporwave band's merch might lean toward all things '80s, including bright aquas and pinks, futuristic grids, and retro fonts.

3. Set up a shop

Set up places where customers can purchase your merchandise easily, both online and IRL. Online stores give musicians the potential for worldwide exposure for both themselves and their merch, while physical stores and merch stands (like the ones you see at live shows/gigs) give your fans a chance to interact with the merchandise physically, and can also give you extra opportunities to meet those fans and sign some of your merch in-person.

Launching your online store via a platform like Fourthwall makes it easy to get started, with so many options for customization of both your band merch and your store. You can create your own homepage, countdown to special merch drops, and sell digital files alongside your physical merch products. Most of all, you'll be empowered to create merchandise that your fans will be excited about, and to then make it as easy as possible for them to find it and buy it. 

10 Cool Merchandise Ideas For Musicians

1. Classic t-shirts

Fans absolutely love classic t-shirts that feature the musicians' name or image, album art, or concert tour dates. Band tees have a timeless appeal, and are must-have merchandise collectibles for any music fan. Try leveling up your band tees beyond the typical logo shirt with specially designed images, replicas of your single or album cover, written song lyrics, or a great image from your promotional photo shoot. Most band tee designs can also be adapted to suit sweatshirts, hoodies, or even knit sweaters.

2. Limited edition posters

Full-sized posters featuring limited edition art prints of album artwork, concert tour schedules, and other custom designs are an excellent custom merch idea. These posters are perfect for framing, and let your fans show off their fandom for you in their living space. Trendy mini posters (usually 12x18") are another cool merch idea, and can be designed in sets of 3 or 6 to make for visually striking gallery wall displays.

3. Hats

Many different styles of hats in a multitude of color choices can be branded with your artist or band logo or other designs. Knit beanies are perfect custom merch for cold weather, and can be nicely embellished with embroidered band logo patches. Trucker hats, snapback caps, and bucket hats are other great merch options in the hats category.

4. Retro releases

Vinyl records are such a top-drawer merchandise item for musicians. Not only are they a classic, retro way to enjoy music visually - plus you can customize both the sleeves and the vinyl itself - but vinyl records also provide a unique sonic experience, and you can do custom orders through sites like Bandcamp. Cassette tapes are another merchandise release idea with an extra dose of nostalgic and their own brand of visual appeal; you can order those print-on-demand through a site like Tape-On-Demand. Whether they prefer vinyl or cassettes, music fans love owning these unique, vintage music formats that they can listen to and display as part of their audio collection.

5. Home goods

What better way to remind your fans of you and your music than to provide opportunities for them to decorate their homes with it? Customized, branded home goods are a rapidly growing merch category, with plenty of options. You can offer desk accessories like mousepads, laptop sleeves, and calendars; leisure accessories like custom candles, pillows, and blankets; and even festive holiday merch like customized Christmas stockings and wrapping paper.

6. Stickers, pins, and keychains

Small but mighty, these items are easy to buy and use. Stickers featuring the musician's name, album art, or logos are an effective merchandise idea that fans can stick them to their laptops, phone cases, or anywhere else they want. Custom keychains are a piece of merch your fans can carry with them everywhere. And pins are great collectibles. All of these items can generally be sold at a low price point, making them a good way to introduce fans to your merch and encourage them to buy more. 

7. Live-performance merch

Live-performance merchandise such as concert tees, setlists, guitar picks, or signed posters are always a hit with fans, and are great reminders of the experience of seeing a musician perform live. You could do a one-sheet poster with all of your tour dates listed, or a limited-edition posters set highlighting just one city/gig per poster, so people will want to collect all of them. Signed versions are yet another option to expand your live performance merch lineup with limited edition versions.

8. Custom phone cases

Custom phone cases featuring the musician's brand identity and unique designs are a trendy merchandise choice that fans love. It's an excellent way for fans to show off their favorite band or musician while protecting their phone; your designs can feature your logo, photo image, album artwork, or more. Double the fun by customizing AirPod cases to match - you can also design and sell those on your Fourthwall site!

9. Drinkware

Custom drinkware such as water bottles, mugs, and glasses are an ideal way for musicians to promote their brand identity and offer practical merchandise items that fans can use daily. You can make them your own style by adding artwork, emotes/emoji, or fun memes/quotes from your fandom or online community.

10. Backpacks and totes

Backpacks and totes are great everyday carries that your fans can use. Custom backpacks featuring your musician brand colors, logos, or album art are perfect for carrying around textbooks, or to use as an overnight bag. And tote bags just keep gaining in popularity as people now substitute them for plastic/paper bags while shopping; you could even create sets of themed tote bags so your fans can stay coordinated with your merch in tow while picking up their groceries.

Create And Sell Your Music Merch With Fourthwall!

Creating and selling merchandise has never been easier for musicians than with Fourthwall, the perfect platform for musicians and bands to seamlessly launch their merch stores. With Fourthwall, you can create custom merch, both physical and digital, with complete control over your design, color choices, price points, and branding, ensuring that your merchandise line and your online store align with your music and artistic vision.

Fourthwall works hard behind the scenes, handling inventory management, production, shipping, and payouts for your merch line. This lets musicians and bands focus on creating music while leveraging the benefits of exclusive content, cool merch, and memberships to connect with your audience and bring in more revenue.

‍