In this piece the people at Single Music why artists should more often bundle content, both physical and digital, and how marketing combinations of merchandise enables them to better connect with fans.
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Guest post from Single Music
The first blog post by our CEO Tommy discussed why Single Music exists. As this is my first post, I’ve decided to follow suit and talk about why we’re driven by this fundamental assumption: bundling content can help you better connect with fans.
Quickly, a “bundle” in this context can be described as a combination of products, both physical merchandise and a digital album download that are sold together by an artist.
Why make them wait?
Physical merchandise is incentivized with an album download, which can be instant or automatically delivered on the release date. If a fan is stoked enough to pull out their wallet and purchase something from your merch store, give them something they can enjoy immediately. They will likely pass your record along to friends and promote it within their social circles. Because artists no longer rely on labels for marketing, this word of mouth promotion is invaluable.
Above the Static
Thousands of songs are uploaded to the web each day. Therefore, finding innovative ways to connect with fans has never been more important. An artist doesn’t just write and perform music; they develop a brand as a complement to the music they create.
In a best case scenario, their personal brand pushes fans to dig deeper into the artist’s catalog. A fan relates to the lifestyle / persona of the musician and can better make sense of the music they hear.
Keep your physical products tied directly with your music
Your music is a reflection of you, ideally you want your physical merchandise to simply be an extension of that. As you come up with new and interesting products to add to your merch store, it can be easy to lose sight of your goals.
Are you simply looking for another revenue stream? Or to develop your brand, provide cool products for fans to proudly wear around town, and push more people to connect with your music?
For the first time ever, artists of any size have the ability to attach a direct digital downloads with any physical product, and have the album be automatically sent out on your release date.
Take advantage of trends
As the music industry experiences rapid change, regulations are constantly forced to play catch up. Some of the biggest artists of today are using merch bundling to propel their albums to the top of the charts. A recent article in Fader highlights some of the recent controversy surrounding Travi$ Scott and his team’s method to boost official album sales.
The point here is that if these top-tier artists are capitalizing on changing trends in the music industry, so can you. In order for a digital album that is part of a bundle to count as an official sale, the fan has to both make the purchase and redeem the digital download.
Boost your official charting
While many metrics exist today that reflect an artist’s reach, the official Billboard Charts still remain the authoritative source. Single Music has done everything possible to remain compliant with Billboard’s policies – as much as we would love to boost the sales of artists who choose to release using our platform, we don’t want to risk falsely inflating numbers.
We look forward to an official statement from Billboard, and will continue to use our understanding of the music landscape to help artists of all sizes. Until then, we will push bundling as an innovative way for artists of any size to better connect with fans.
Check out our recent support article “How do I bundle a digital album with a physical product?” for step by step instructions.
Have questions? Talk to us.
– Joe