Industry news & advice blog

This blog is contributed by CD Baby. CD Baby gets artists paid in all the ways musicians earn money today: streaming, download, physical sales, video monetisation, publishing royalties, sync licensing and more. As one of the largest distributors of independent music in the world, they proudly now work on behalf of over 1 million independent recording artists, helping them build a better bridge between their creativity and the revenue sources they need for a successful career in music.


Do you want to sell merch right from your Spotify profile?

Of course you do. Especially since that’s one of the priority destinations for your fans.

If you’ve looked around Spotify as a fan yourself, you’ve likely seen OTHER artists listing their merch for sale...famous artists...label artists. And you’ve probably wondered, “How do I sell my vinyl and shirts on Spotify?”

Previously, the online marketplace Merchbar was the only option for artists looking to sell their merch right on their Spotify artist page. And this was great…for established acts. However, the platform was notably exclusive and difficult for indie artists to join.

But that’s all changed thanks to a partnership between Spotify and e-commerce company Shopify. This new agreement allows all artists to sell up to three merch items on their Spotify profile.

Let's check out how it works!

What do I need to sell my merch on Spotify?

All you need to sell your merch on Spotify is:

1. A Shopify store: You’ll need to create a Shopify store at their website. Keep in mind Shopify is a paid service, so they require a monthly subscription. Their basic tier is $29 per month. After you create an account, you can add all your merch to your Shopify store.

2. A Spotify artist profile: This means you must have music distributed to Spotify through a distributor like CD Baby.

3. Access to Spotify for Artists: As a CD Baby artist, you can verify your Spotify for Artists profile right in your CD Baby account! Once that’s done you can customize your artist profile on Spotify, including adding merch.


How do I sell my merch on Spotify?

After you’ve completed all the preliminary steps to sell your merch on Spotify, it’s time to connect your Shopify account to your Spotify artist profile.

Spotify has outlined the steps to sell merch on your artist profile, which we’ll detail below:


How to connect Shopify to Spotify for Artists

The first step is to connect your Shopify store to your Spotify artist profile:

1. Log into Spotify for Artists
2. Go to Profile
3. Click Merch
4. Click LOG IN TO SHOPIFY
5. Enter your Shopify store URL and click LINK SHOP (Tip: This is the URL in the address bar when you’re on your Shopify store, e.g. “your-store-name.myshopify.com”)
6. Log into Shopify, then follow the steps to set up your accounts (Note: You’ll get prompted to Add sales channel, accept the terms, and choose the artist you want to link your shop to)


How to publish merch to Spotify for Artists

Next you’ll need to publish merch to your Spotify for Artists page:

1. Log into Shopify
2. Go to Settings
3. Click Products, then All products
4. Choose a product (Note: Check the product uses plain text and static images for the description and media (we don’t support videos or text formatting)
5. Click Manage next to SALES CHANNELS AND APPS
6. Make sure Spotify is checked, then click Done
7. Click Save at the top of the product page


How to add merch to your Spotify artist profile

After you publish merch to your profile, you can choose three items to list publicly.

To add merch to your Spotify artist profile:

1. Log into artists.spotify.com
2. Go to Profile
3. Click Merch
4. Click ADD TO SHOP for the merch items you want to display on your profile

And that’s it! Once you add your merch, anyone who visits your Spotify artist profile can see your merch items for sale. This is something you’ll want to do in time for any new release. According to Spotify’s Fan Study about merch:

Fans view merch 7.2x more on release day vs. other days, 4.0x more in the first week vs. other weeks, and 2.1x more in the first month vs. other months.

That makes sense, since you’re sending more traffic TO your artist profile on your release date.

There are a lot of other little bits of advice in that Spotify Fan Study as well, including:

Make sure you’re selling t-shirts in the summer
Stock up on vinyl during April and May
Offer outerwear during the holidays
Color t-shirts can grab more attention
Update pics and bio every time you release new music


Want to sell your merch on Spotify today? Sign up with Shopify and start moving shirts, hats, vinyl, CDs, posters, mugs, or whatever else you have to offer!