5 Types of Merchandise an Artist can Sell to Make Extra Money

Artists can make sizable profits by selling branded merchandise, both online and at live performances. 

With a variety of accessible tools and platforms at their disposal, you can easily record, distribute, sell, stream, and promote your music. 

Any product or service that an artist offers to customers or other businesses can be termed as merchandise. 

Below are some of the main types of branded merchandise that artists can sell and get extra money from without much or a tiny bit of struggle but regardless worth it.

# 1. Stickers and Autographed Posters

These are the easiest and cheapest to create. While stickers can be sold, the best way usually is to give them out for free to spread the word. Make sure to have a message in the footer or corner to show people where to find your merch. 

For more established artists, autographed posters can be an easy sale. Giving out a couple to winners of a contest can create awareness for your autographed posters.

#2. Selling Digital Downloads

Digital downloads have never seen a decline in revenue before. Not before the COVID-19 era and not after. They act as the perfect way for an artist to earn extra money. 

Selling music online has become simpler and easier with the current digital transformation trend. Artists can quickly sell music from their websites and even through social media channels as a way of earning extra money.

Music distribution platforms like DistroBuddy go the extra mile to make sure you earn royalties from your music. For a flat rate of $10/year, DistroBuddy can distribute up to 25 of your tracks to over 150 online music stores. Get Started with DistroBuddy.

#3. Sell Clothing Merchandise

Think about T-shirts, hats, hoodies, blankets, and literally any other clothing piece you can make.

With your logo printed on any clothing material, your side hustle is set to bring some extra income to your wallet. Make sure the design is unique to prevent fake merch from flooding the market creating income streams for fraudsters instead of yourself. 

Your true fans will always be willing to purchase anything with your name, picture, or logo. Endeavor to give your fans a variety to choose from; different sizes, different fashion types (T-shirts or long and short sleeves), and different colors.

#4. Sell Mugs 

Mugs are increasingly becoming a popular item to sell. People like carrying their coffee around in mugs. Just make sure the mug is a unique design and your fans will love it.

#5. Sell Other Merchandise 

There are varieties of other merchandise an artist can sell to their fans; phone covers, art books, videos, and board games

This helps you to get your name out there as an artist and also earn extra money. 

The other form of merchandise an artist can sell are customized paintings of themselves. Devoted fans would treasure an artist’s painting on their house walls as a souvenir more still if it has been autographed.

Conclusion

If you’re wondering why we don’t have CDs on our list, here is why? Selling compact discs (CDs) still works, but people mostly buy them as souvenirs, especially when signed personally by the artist. 

So selling music CDs now is not a good business as it used to be.

To wrap it up, making money as a musician still remains one of the biggest obstacles faced by artists – most especially upcoming musicians. Selling branded merchandise to contribute to one’s finances is absolutely the way to go.