The New Music Business with Ari Herstand This Merch Company Has Paid Artists $30+ Million
Sep 24, 2025
In this discussion, Seamus Menihane, CEO and co-founder of Downright Merch, shares insights into the merch industry where they've paid artists over $30 million. He elaborates on the recent merger with Overcast to form Armada and how that enhances artist support. The conversation dives into balancing online and touring merch sales, utilizing QR codes to convert show buyers into direct-to-consumer fans, and how real-time sales tracking improves inventory management. Seamus also speculates on the future of direct-to-fan engagement and the integration of merch platforms.
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Forecast Inventory Using Show Data
- Use venue, ticket, and historical data to forecast per-show merch needs and keep inventory balanced.
- Track metrics like ticket counts and presales to produce accurate reorder projections.
Digital Payments Enable Fan Data Capture
- Cash transactions at merch tables have dropped dramatically; digital payments let you capture more granular customer data.
- Converting merch buyers into D2C customers via QR codes enables ongoing email/SMS engagement.
Make Shopify Your Customer Hub
- Centralize customer data in Shopify and funnel merch-table signups into that store.
- Use Shopify as the hub to run email, SMS, fan clubs, and D2C campaigns from one place.
