A night light for 40 euros, a miniature golf club for the Christmas tree (20 euros), a desk clock (70 euros) and of course countless shirts and sweaters. All of this can be found in the Taylor Swift online shop, sometimes no longer available. The US Megastar has raised the topic of fan articles to a new level.
The “Swifties” sometimes dig deep into their pockets for the products. But not just here. In the course of her tour with rap superstar Kendrick Lamar, R&B singer Sza sells a stylish, neon yellow warning vest. Price: 108 euros. At singer Adele you can order a college jacket online for 200 euros.
Certain merchandise (short: Merch) now costs almost as much as a concert ticket for great artists. Why is that? And why are the products so popular with fans?
That is why products become more expensive
The term “merchandising article” is often used as a collective term for all license and merch products. The business runs 90 percent either via licensing or agencies, i.e. companies that specialize in marketing the rights to products. This is explained by the managing director of the Licensing International Germany Association, Ute Stauss. Artists who can be represented by these agencies would have an interest in getting their fair share.
“Of course, the merch becomes more expensive because the supply chains have changed due to the whole problem in the world,” continued Stauss. Because most articles come from Asia and the raw material prices have climbed up there. The supply chains have become even more complex because of the supply chain law, which has been in effect in Germany since 2023 and has had an impact on global productions.
Music is a large and growing area
From an organizer perspective, one cannot currently observe “significant price increases in the field of merchandising” that transfer the usual level of general price increases, says Johannes Everke, the managing director of the Federal Association of the Concert and Event Industry (BDKV).
“Since general increases in production and inflation, price increases in all social areas of life has occurred, it can be assumed that the area of merchandising is also touched.” Means: products become more expensive overall – and in this context also Merchandise.
Expert Stauss, lecturer at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg, also observes that good business can be done with music products and concerts. “Music is a very large and growing area, also in Germany. Certainly also driven by the concert summer 2024 when Adele, Taylor Swift and Coldplay played concerts in Germany”.
Adele had set new standards in Munich with a specially built pop-up stadium and a kind of folk festival. Swift with her monumental “Eras” tour anyway. Merch is for the artists: an important additional source of income inside, says Stauss.
Merch belongs to the lifestyle
In their view, the main income part is certainly still at concerts, fees, ticket sales and partly with streaming income. This is also shown by a study on the music industry in Germany in 2024.
Accordingly, artists earn around half with live performances and studio recordings, from streaming or selling sound carriers, on the other hand, they only achieve almost five percent of their income. “In addition to concerts as the most important source of income, further income can be achieved through merchandising,” explains the BDKV.
The merch has long been part of the lifestyle and a concert for many fans. Tour shirts, caps with the album title and sweater printed with the face of the stars you can always see fashionable in everyday life.
Artists often have some standard products such as cups or T-shirts on offer. Superstar Swift is an extreme example with her sprawling shop. When the 2020 pop icon released their album “Folklore” with the single “Cardigan”, fans could even buy a suitable “cardigan” on their website, so a cardigan.
Nowadays the community idea is counting, says Stauss. “Many fans also use Merch today as an expression of belonging and identification”. In addition, many, surely driven by pandemic, would have an “insane catch -up”.
At events such as concerts, consumers are happy to spend money on the inside. “He is happy to do so, maybe prices don’t necessarily play a role here because he is in a great mood and just spends more money.”
Some fans find other ways
Some fans also find their own way. At the Tokio Hotel concert in Berlin you recently saw some who simply made their own fan shirts. Also to have something of your own that stands out from others. “Nobody has that,” said a woman.
There have been fan articles for a long time. In some cases, the “Titanic” movie in the children’s room in the past might hung in the children’s room, others slept in bed linen from a boy band or a football club. One could go back even further in the history of mankind, as fan researcher Harald Lange from the University of Würzburg says.
In the past, saints in the church had already been recognized with relics. Seen in this way, today’s fan articles are a modern interpretation of this, says the sports scientist, who in his work pays particular attention to fan culture in sport.
Build closeness to idols
Basically, fans collected objects of people who worship them in a special way. Many are ready to dig deeper into their pockets for Merch to be closer to their idols or to build a bond, says Lange.
If she has the money, she likes to buy something, says a woman in Berlin on the edge of the Tokyo Hotel concert. And then she spent a little more money. But of course it is true that such articles are generally more expensive today. “In any case, everyone can’t afford, unfortunately.”