Finding your favorite artists’ and bands’ merch just became ten times easier. Merchbar, a popular online merchandise store, announced a partnership with YouTube to allow music fans to buy official merchandise from a shelf just below an artist’s music video.
This merch shelf feature will directly help video creators make more money outside of subscriptions and paid advertisements during a time when revenue from merch continues to be a vital part of an artist’s income—music merchandise sales in the United States have risen from $3.1 billion in 2016 to $3.5 billion in 2018, according to the Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association’s annual surveys. The feature will also make merch shopping a smoother experience.
One artist already taking advantage of this opportunity is electronic music producer Marshmello. Aside from opting in for the merch shelf, the artist created his own soccer jersey exclusively for YouTube and Merchbar for the feature’s launch. Musicians who have an Official Artist Channel and a Merchbar store with U.S. fulfillment enabled can sign up for the Merch Shelf through YouTube Studio.
