There is so much that goes into making music that you’d think you might need a bachelor’s degree in how to operate your band. The scary thing about that is it’s not entirely untrue. It is very involved and it only gets more so as we progress further into tomorrowland. Fortunately, in this modern age, there are all sorts of new commerce tools. Today we are discussing tools to Print On-Demand Music Merchandise.
These tools will make your task of earning as an independent band far more reasonable. You may find that in some cases, being a DIY independent artist is far more sustainable than ever before. Before we get directly into that; let’s recap on all of the digital technologies we have going for us to this point.
The Digital Revolution
Everything has gone digital these days. Today an Artist can produce an album by them selves entirely at home on a computer. After they have finished mixing and mastering that album they can distribute the single worldwide from their house. They can do this via an online Distribution Company. For more about releasing music independently; Read this!
A music distribution company uploads an artists music to most every Digital streamer and Digital Music Sales Website. If you are are interested in more about a Music Distributor, we’ve recently published an informative article. It describes everything you need to know to shop for the right distribution service. Here is the link!
With the music released the Artist can shoot a Music Video on their Cellphone. After they’ve edited it on their laptop they can promote a worldwide release on their YouTube Channel. Yes, this is the future and like it or not it has changed the game. For a detailed guide about how artists are producing their own DIY music videos; Click here!
The Digital Storefront
Apart from creating, releasing, and promoting music and music videos, setting up a digital storefront on the artist’s webpage is becoming easier and more intuitive.
Subscription services are driving the evolution of global commerce, making it accessible to everyone. With these tools and features, a new entrepreneur can quickly launch an online store.
We discuss the importance of a website for making money with your music at greater length in a recent article. Here is the link. You should check it out!
While you may not need a bachelor’s degree to manage your band. You do need to be an entrepreneur. Learn to be come forward thinking in order to monetize your promotional efforts effectively.
After you have committed to building a website, you may need some guidance to know exactly what pages your site should have. Here Is a link to a guide all about that. You should bookmark it for when you are ready to go. Good Luck!
So What Can Be Sold
The better question is “What can’t be sold?”. The fact is pretty much anything can be sold as promotional merchandise on your site. Traditionally People love T-shirts Hoodies and Posters and other things like that. But there are plenty of other products that people might buy if the products are branded well.
So What is Print On Demand
Print on demand involves partnering with a supplier to create and deliver a single product. This eliminates the need for you, as the store owner, to buy inventory, handle shipping, or manage payments for the goods.
Getting Set Up
By setting up a print on-demand music merchandise service in conjunction with your Digital Store Front you can select products from their collection that you feel could be good sellers for your band. You can experiment with as many products as you like.
Select Product; Design
First you have to select your products. Then you must come up with the graphic design that you intend to have emblazoned across it. Once you have and have uploaded that the manufacturer will provide you a mock-up. The mock up will show you what that finished product will look like.
Set Pricing Based on Cost
The manufacturer will indicate the cost for you per unit. You will be able to set a retail price above your cost for the good. The manufacturer will send you a link to the good based on your price settings. That link can be used to connect to your product image for sale on your online store.
Should a costumer come onto your website and select the good to purchase. They will be prompted to input their credit card information. They will be charged the retail price you had set for the good.
Third Party Collection
The manufacturer will collect the payment. They will take their share to produce and ship the product. After this they will send you a payment for the difference.
In addition to being able to print clothes or souvenir items on demand there are a number of companies that provide print on demand services for physical copies of music.
So if you are interested in having compact discs printed or Vinyl Records pressed and you don’t want to take a large inventory of stock into your rehearsal space. Then this may be the perfect solution to expand your offerings to your fanbase without having to overstretch yourself financially.
So How Do You Get Started
In order to get started you will need to have your own website, If you already have one you will only have to modify it a bit to be able to work with a print on demand partner.
Website building sites like Squarespace and Shopify have a print on demand element built into them. If you are working on a WordPress website you will first need to install the WOO Commerce plugin to allow your website to act as a digital storefront. After doing so you can use a third party site like Printful or one of its competitors as your print on demand partner. After that you’ll be ready to print on-demand music merchandise.
In Closing
Todays fast paced world of innovations has us doing our very best to keep up and that Is not necessarily a bad thing. Even if you don’t have the greatest success with any one part of your digital store at first you never know what is coming just around the corner.
There is a great takeaway to be had from just throwing yourself into the latest practice and trends. Especially in the event the next big thing breaks and you are squarely positioned and poised to pounce on the opportunity.
So I encourage you to jump into the Digital storefront space, hook up with a Print on Demand Partner and print some on-demand music merchandise. We don’t know what is coming next and we owe it to ourselves not to get to far behind the curve.
Additionally There has probably never been another time in history where you could open your very own marketplace with so little initial investment. So for no other reason than give it a shot I’d say why not.