Vanessa Ferrer , founder of Merch Cat, is an expert when it comes to music merch. With her background in music and business, she created Merch Cat to help musicians leverage this income stream.
A successful businesswoman for 15 years, Vanessa Ferrer has managed touring artists and consulted with industry pros. In 2015, she created Merch Cat, a platform to help artists sell and manage merchandise at shows, so that musicians could make even more money in their music business. She also gave us tons of resources to put into our toolboxes and offered a free month of Merch Cat to our listeners so they can try it. Head over to Merch Cat and enter promo code FEMPOD.
This episode of the Female Entrepreneur Musician Podcast is brought to you by the FREE Musician’s Profit Path Masterclass. If you are an artist ready to grow your fanbase and expand your income from music, this masterclass is for you. I’ll show you the 5 stages of music career growth and help you gauge where you are now, what you need to focus on and what not to focus on so you’re not wasting time and money. You’ll also learn benchmarks relating to live performing, fanbase growth, social media, recording and more. Free classes are running everyday!
Tips for Artists
- When you’re an emerging artist, you’re a startup, you’re an entrepreneur
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- Artists need to understand how much it takes to get someone to listen you your music
- There needs to be an ebb and flow between the creative and the business side
- Executing on the details is critical to artist success
Navigating the Music Merch Ecosystem
- Where do I get merch?
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- How do I sell it?
- How do I engage fans with it?
- Start with a small investment in merch, then re-invest profits
- Know who your audience is so you have the right merch
Using Merch Cat to Track Music Merch
- Music merch can be one of the most lucrative revenue streams for artists
- 80% of merch sales occur at the live shows
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- Looking at the numbers makes you accountable
- Designed to be musician friendly
- Interfaces with Square and PayPal
Once you’ve got your inventory system working, this article will help you do a better job selling music merch at gigs.
Resources
- Hypebot
- CD Baby DIY Musician Conference
- Charleston CONFAB Music Conference
- The Rockstar Advocate
- Reverbnation
- Tunetrack
- Indie Hitmaker
- Canva
- Women in Music organization
- CD Baby Analytics
- Arttracks
- MailChimp Subscribe
Resources
ABOUT HOST BREE NOBLE
Bree Noble is an entrepreneur, musician and speaker. She founded Women of Substance Radio, an online radio station that promotes quality female artists in all genres, in 2007. She launched the Women of Substance Music Podcast in November 2014, a 5 day per week show which promotes Independent female artists. Her podcast has hit #1 in New & Noteworthy for the Music, Arts and Society & Culture categories and #4 Audio Podcast on all of iTunes. She draws on her extensive experience running her own music business, both as a solo musician and as an Industry professional, to train and mentor other female musicians. Learn more about the station, the show and the artists atwww.wosradio.com. Connect with Bree on Twitter @BreeNoble or on Facebook or on Instagram
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