Spotify adds in-app merch stand to artist profiles | Music – CNET News.
You can now buy T-shirts, records, and other merchandise from your favorite artists within music-streaming service Spotify.
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Been there, streamed that, bought the T-shirt… you can now buy shirts, records, and other merchandise from your favorite artists through music-streaming service Spotify.
Turns including Beastie Boys, Banks, Grateful Dead, Bon Jovi, Deadmau5, and much-trumpeted new arrivals Led Zeppelin have been first to offer swag in Spotify over the last month, and the feature is now open to any artist to sign up and start selling anything they want, from wristbands to vinyl records, right there on their profile page.
Clicking on an item shows you a preview image and then takes you to the band’s online store, wherever that may be. Merchandise is available to buy if you’re listening to Spotify in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland.
Any band or artist can add a merch stand to their profile within the Spotify app. They can only offer three items at a time, but on the plus side there are no fees: neither Spotify nor Topspin — which provides sales and marketing software to artists — take a cut when a fan drops some cash on a new shirt, poster, or album.
Topspin has a similar deal to offer merchandise through forthcoming rival streaming serviceBeats Music, which is set to launch on Tuesday.
As digital music — and with it, music piracy — has eaten into the money made from selling music, other ways of making money have become increasingly important. Revenue streams such as merchandise and live concert tickets are two big ways for artists and labels to make money — and both can now be browsed and bought through Spotify. READ MORE