… a blog post from Chairman’s Corner

Hey hey hey everybody…we’ve officially made it to 2025, which I strongly feel will be The Year of Band Merch! We all really dig quality band merchandise – as albums, stickers and t-shirts (or hats!) from musicians that we love often allow us to take part of our favorite artists’ personalities (and sometimes even intimate memories of their live performances) back home.

I’d like to share just a few ideas that I had in regard to engaging fans at the ‘ole merch table. First: A sense of humor (in terms of overall layout & presentation) never hurts. Decorating your merch area in a way that’ll break the ice with new fans seems to almost always be a good idea – as this helps folks to feel at ease as you’re meeting with them (often for the very first time). Secondly: Having a wide variety of different kinds of physical media (not to mention any other types of swag) also never hurts! As pictured above, my band Nasalrod has an album available on vinyl, cassette and CD – just so that we’re prepared for fans of any (or all) of those formats. While touring, I’ve noticed that some towns will sometimes take to cassettes or CDs much more than others. We’ve recently stepped up our merch game to include trucker hats, winter hats, a variety of shirts, and even patches as well. While creating all of this merch is costly, it sells when you play enough shows…and a wide variety of items will most definitely keep folks intrigued while they’re hanging out at your merch table!

Finally: If you don’t already know the name of the fellow music lover that you’re talking to, then ask them for it (especially if you’re the performer & running your own merch area). Being just a little bit personable goes a very long way!

Cheers,

Jeffrey “Chairman” Couch

Music lover, creator & collector

chairman@spinneymedia.com

Chairman currently enjoys freaking out & creating panic with his spastic rock band Nasalrod, which is based in Portland, Oregon. He created this blog to share his serious love of music, the arts, and physical media.

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