An undeniable chill shimmies down your spine, the first note drops, you sing every word as if it was written for you and buy your new wearable receipt to show the world you were there – with your favorite six-string slayer, heart melting hero, any master of music will do - this is concert life. Artists rely heavily on merch sales and for smaller acts it’s their lifeline. Weakened supply chains and inconsistent carriers are staining the artist merch experience. It may be the first year back on the road with live shows, but without a reliable merchandiser and carrier – fans and artists alike are hurtin’ for merch like Billy Ray’s achy breaky heart.

Quick facts: 

• It was all a dream, used to read word up magazine, in my red and black lumberjack hat to match …until it didn’t show up from FedEx. Once upon a time merch was a cash cow – artists are now forced to hip hop between carriers and merchandisers in search of greener pastures. We hope they get that green too.
  
  
• Bruce Springsteen’s, “Born in the USA” should now be, “Made in the USA.” No, we aren’t kidding. Production is moving stateside, because how else will we get our t-shirts from a US port at the rate things are going? International shipping and added fees = empty merch tables. #notanoption
  
  
• Survival requires creativity, starving artists know this all too well. When you see a concert tee labeled as, “collector’s item,” you just might be buying the idea. Artists are still trying to sell multitudes of merch from canceled pandemic shows and altering the label online to give it that exclusive appeal. Wouldn’t it be great if all unsold products in your final mile warehouses could be labeled as, “collector’s items?”

Put plainly: 

Partnered with a strong supply chain, one merchandiser made $105 million in three months. They won by diversifying their production operations and planning the transportation life cycle from start to finish.