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How To Make Money As An Independent Artist

Do you need to make money to fund your next music release?

Finding a system that allows you to create your own budget to reinvest back into your music will fuel your growth as an artist or band – and even better it is sustainable growth.

This training will teach you how to sell band merchandise so you can take the profits and reinvest them back into your music.

You don’t need any money to begin with and it is relatively easy to get going.

Selling merch is not as complicated or the logistical nightmare that it used to be, and it can give you the keys to scale your music to the next levels. 

This training teaches you how to:

• Design your band merch.
• Sell the merch to fans – with no upfront costs.
• Post to buyers without countless trips to the post office.
• Create merch that you don’t have to physically store.
• Create your own music marketing budget to reinvest back into your music.

Merchandise

Merch can be a massive revenue boost for yourself as an artist or band. 

Merchandise can be T-shirts, Hoodies, Phone Cases, Mugs, Bags, Hats, Flip-flops, Tea-Towels, Stickers, Pens, Pants (really!), and so much more. 

You name it, and your logo can be put on it.

The beauty of this strategy is you can have a new set of merch for every release with no upfront costs. This will keep fans wanting to buy the new merch and keep your cashflow growing.

You can see which designs sell well and push those forward to new fans. It will also let you see which designs aren’t popular and they can slide away.

It pays to remember that fans want to support you, and people are collectors. Someone wearing your T-shirt is free promotion for your band/brand too – so let’s spread the word!

How Do You Easily Distribute Merchandise?

We will use the example of t-shirts but remember this can be applied to any form of merchandise. 

In a time gone by, you would have to buy boxes of different sized T-shirts, store stock that gets in the way and inevitably, those 10 XXS sizes would never sell.  

T-shirt for your dog, anyone?

But not anymore.

I believe that drop-shipping is the way forward for musicians selling merch.

What is Drop Shipping?

Drop shipping your merch means quickly distributing your merchandise with minimal hassle and maximum profit.

With drop shipping, you simply:

• Create a webpage or a landing page with photos of all of the merchandise you are selling.
• Send fans to the page.
• Fans place an order with you. 
• You then place the order with a drop shipping firm.
• Finally, the drop shipper posts the order directly to the buyer.  

Once this method is set up, selling your merchandise is easy to maintain, and your only job is to place the orders with the drop shipper as they come in.

Where To Start?

When drop-shipping the whole process is completed in 5 easy steps.

Step One

Get a logo or design to put on your merch. 

If you have one already, great! Skip to the next step.

If not, no problem.

Go to Fiverr and commission a seller to design exactly what you want. 

With Fiverr gigs starting from $5, a logo design is a purchase that will pay for itself time and time again. 

*TIP: When using Fiverr, make contact with sellers BEFORE you place an order for a gig. Tell them exactly what you want, check out their past designs and make sure they are the right fit for your brand.

Step Two

Choose a Drop Shipping firm. 

There are lots to choose from, including;

1. Printify
2. Alibaba
3. Oberlo
4. SaleHoo
5. Worldwide Brands
6. Doba
7. Sunrise Wholesale
8. Wholesale2b
9. Megagoods
10. Modalyst

We recommend Printify.

Printify is a trusted and well-recognised brand that allows you to start an account for free, which gives you unlimited product designs for $0.00 per month!

With T-shirts starting from $6.82 on Printify, you can sell them for $20; that’s a $14+ profit on every sale.

Mock Up Generator

Once you choose your product, Printify lets you see an example of what your merch will look like using their mockup generator.

Just go to Printify and upload your logo/design.

Simply save the image with your logo on it; you’ll need it later.

Step Three 

If you have a website, add a page to act as a store (use the mockup photos you saved previously to advertise the new merch). 

You can collect payments through Paypal – You need to log into Paypal to create payment buttons to sell your merch.

You can also sell your merchandise straight to your mailing list subscribers through companies like Aweber for free. With Aweber, you can create landing pages for your merchandise that sends potential buyers straight to your store.

Step Four 

Advertise the link to your new merch (either a store page on your website or straight to your mailing list for free from Aweber), on your social media profiles, putting direct links into your bios. 

You can even run paid ads to your store once you are up and running.

Post COVID19, many people are still live streaming gigs; if this is you, make sure you advertise the links to your merch stores during the gigs.

When playing live, spread the word about the brand new merch you have for sale.

Shout your link from the rooftops!

Step Five

Now the orders are coming in!

Once someone has brought merchandise from you, you then simply place the order with Printify or the drop shipper you chose, and they will post it directly to the buyer. 

Easy, now go and implement the steps and start generating some cash!

Please note: You could set up a Shopify account, connect that directly to your website and to the drop shipper so everything is automated and runs without you doing anything BUT that costs a monthly subscription. So in the beginning I recommend setting up your merch store as above to save money and create more cash for your pocket!