Selling More Merchandise On A Promotional Tour

By Jon Hutcherson, Mix Ent.

When I sat down to write this article on "Selling more merchandise on a promotional tour," a story of one of the biggest mistakes made by not one, but five groups came to mind...

One year I took a headliner & five opening groups on a Spring Break tour to South Padre Island and Mexico for a couple of weeks. It was a promotional tour including 11 shows - with only the headliner getting paid for five of the shows. Travel, hotels, and food were paid for by the club and event promoters; along with built in bonuses based on show turn-out.  The promotional tour shows were a huge success - attracting between 2,000 and 15,000 people.

While preparing for the promotional tour, I told each group to be sure to take plenty of merchandise (T-shirts and CD's) to sell at the shows. I also told each group that because we were dealing with college and high-school students on vacation - people who had disposable money to purchase merchandise - they could make this promotional tour a "paid" tour by selling all the merchandise they could carry. (The potential merchandise sales while performing to over 100,000 US spring breakers and over 20,000 vacationing Mexican Nationals attending shows in eight huge clubs in Mexico was all too real.) In addition, I went one step further and helped each group get hooked up with a great place to purchase T-shirts and CD's at a discount price. I assumed they all ordered their merchandise. (Well - You know what they say about assuming... it makes an ass out of you and me.)

Before leaving I asked all group managers and reps if they ALL had their merchandise to sell at shows. Every single group replied, 'Yes!' After we got to South Padre Island, Texas (13 hours on the road later) and are settled in the rooms, we went to sound check and started promoting the show that was held later that night in an outdoor venue that held about 15,000. We had a group meeting before the show and the main subject was... as soon as you get off stage, go out into the audience and push your merchandise. Every group did so, and when we got to the hotel before going out to the after party, I went to each group's rep and asked how they did with merchandise sales. Every last one said they sold out of what they had brought to the show! "Wow, that was great!," I thought. "This is really starting out nicely."

The following day we had an afternoon promotional show in an outdoor setting that held about 1,500 AND it was already sold out for two back-to-back shows. I went to each room reminding all 23 guys to bring merchandise - considering how well we did the night before. We got to the show and after each group finished I noticed only one artist was out selling merchandise. I thought, "What is going on?" This is how it broke down... one artist brought 400 CD's and no shirts. One group brought 50 CD's, 25 shirts, and 500 posters (which no one bought, I told groups to bring posters to sign and give away with a CD purchase).One group brought 50 CD's, and another group brought 10 shirts and 100 unprinted EP's. A few groups brought nothing at all. Now - consider the money that can be made off merchandise sales; T-shirt ($10 each); CD's ($10 for a full CD and/or $5 for an EP). The artist who brought 400 CD's sold out by the second show and had $4000.00 of merchandise money in his pocket. Some might consider this great, I say it sucks. The artist had 9 more shows to do and could have sold even more merchandise if he would have been prepared. The group that brought the 50 CD's and 25 shirts made $750 - in less than 15 minutes at the first show - and were now out of money making merchandise.

Here was the problem:

Each artist went off of what merchandise they were used to selling at their small local shows. They didn't listen to the promoter of the tour, me in this case, about the earning potential while selling merchandise. These groups were told over and over, with plenty of time and resources, to have the recommended 500-1000 duplicated CD's and 200-400 shirts - ready to travel. Not only were they given plenty of notice (3 months), but I went the extra mile by getting them a discount price on merchandise (82 cents per CD: full color, 4 page, 8 panel, full color picture, and picture in the tray; as well as shrink wrap, bar coded, & retail ready. T-shirts included a one color logo with screen print - only $1.75 per shirt.) What's crazy - I know for a fact each group ordered a minimum of 150 shirts before the show. What they did with the shirts before we left for the tour is beyond me. I guess it was their first shirts so they gave em' away or ate em'. I had put this tour together years before and this was my fifth year out. I knew what these groups could sell before we even left.

The solution:

This was a promotional tour that required an investment of time and money. The only pay on promotional tours comes in the form of radio play in exchange for playing promotional shows. This is huge, but it's not cash in hand - merchandise sales is. Artists have to get creative with merchandise sales. Artists have to get aggressive while selling merchandise. None of these things can happen if merchandise is not on hand and ready to sell. The earning potential for each of these artists was about $5000 to $10,000 each. (Not bad for 11 shows in 13 days.) It's too bad they didn't listen to the shows' promoter for past performance of merchandise sales, especially since these groups were used to making nothing... nada... zip!

The whole idea of a FREE PROMOTIONAL TOUR is to get a buzz going while getting radio play so that you are attractive to the labels. It's also a great opportunity to build a fan base, so that when your CD drops with a distributor you've got instant sells. This costs money. But - an artist can minimize expenses by selling merchandise. While out on a regular promotional tour, an artist can expect to sell between 5-10 CD's and 5-10 T-shirts at each show. When doing this 4 times a week, an artist has the potential of making around $400-$800 a week. That goes a long way to pay for gas going from town to town and it minimizes cash needed in order to complete a promotional tour.

In conclusion.........  it's better to be over prepared on the road, rather than be caught with your pants down! Don't ever think you know, or can predict each crowd at each stop on the road. During one stop you may not sell a single item... the next stop ( a hole in the wall little ghetto spot) may surprise you and you might sell 50 CD's and 20 shirts. You never know! Don't try to predict! Just be prepared for each and every stop, and listen to the shows' promoter! Be professional and do your research as far as club capacity, normal crowd for that night and how much promotion has been done for the show. Go early and do your own promotion to insure a good turnout. This can, and will, insure that you sell merchandise. Until next time... good luck with your next show!!!

As always,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, from out on the road, somewhere on I-20 in the middle of the south,

Jon Hutcherson
Mix Entertainment

P.S. There is a certain way that works when pushing merchandise as an unknown. Stay tuned to further episodes of  "The Do's & Dont's while on a Promotional Tour."

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