Spotify has made official the presentation of a merchandising store partnership with the e-commerce platform Shopify. This agreement will allow artists to link a Shopify store on Spotify. Curiously, this presentation comes just after Amazon Music presented its own merchandising store for artists. This alliance is currently in beta and is only available to listeners in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Spotify has not yet publicly discovered when international users will gain access to the built-in merchandising options.
The music industry sector is one of the sectors that has evolved the most in recent decades, if not the most. And it is that they have really had to face a multitude of obstacles since the internet appeared. The success of digital formats, music piracy and the birth of streaming platforms have caused this sector to be affected.
With alliances such as Spotify’s with Shopify, it is intended to go one step further and maintain its profits through the sale of merchandising. In this way, fans can easily access the sale of official products of their musical idols.
For both Spotify and Shopify, this union is a very important firm step. The products will be found neither more nor less than where the potential clients and fans of the artists are located.
It is exactly the same operation that some specialized physical stores have, where in addition to music we can find books, clothes, exclusive collections … but digitally.
Shopify e-commerce platform par excellence
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that can be used to build an online store even if a physical store already exists. Shopify allows you to sell both online with your own website and in person with Shopify POS. So Shopify is an ecommerce website builder with options for everyone from beginners to e-commerce experts.
This platform allows the creation of a test account for fourteen days. During this trial period, you can access the free Shopify apps and even make your first sale. Normally after this trial period, stores start by opting for the basic plan. Once the necessary experience has been acquired, the ideal is to benefit from Shopify Advaced or Shopify Plus depending on the needs of each business.
How Shopify works on Spotify
Any artist globally can link their Shopify store with their Spotify profile. From now on Spotify users will see listings of featured Shopify products on the service. During the beta period, Shopify products will only be visible to Spotify listeners in the countries mentioned above.
To set up their virtual merchandising stores, Spotify artists will need to have a Shopify account.
Shopify’s pricing plans range from € 25 per month for a basic eCommerce package to € 258 per month for an advanced tier. Enhanced reports are included in this advanced level. Shopify offers a 90-day free trial for all Spotify artists signing up for the first time.
Shopify offers multiple inventory management features for Spotify artists. One example is that out of stock items are automatically removed from your profile, while new items can be quickly added to Spotify. For artists starting to create their merchandising lines, Shopify offers print-on-demand services.
To catalog the products on Spotify with Shopify in the Spotify for Artists panel, you just have to;
- Go to the Profile tab to click on Products.
- Select items from the Shopify store to display on the artist’s profile. Only one Shopify store can be linked per artist account on Spotify.
For musical artists, Shopify is a very complete and easy-to-use e-commerce platform to start managing their brand.
Shopify, the new way to monetize Spotify accounts
Shopify says its extensive range of apps will be able to favor artists to enable new services like make-to-order products. According to the company itself, the infrastructure of its platform is well prepared to support large volumes of traffic for artists with a multitude of followers. They claim that they can ship large quantities of products unexpectedly in situations such as when a new product is launched.
Selling on Spotify through Shopify represents an ideal opportunity to continue enhancing and maximizing the additional sources of income that all registered artists have.
Although both companies have found that they seek to increase the income of artists through merchandising, the streaming platform has received accusations. Accusations made by independent bands and soloists who denounce the lack of support for this type of the music sector. The Musicians and Allied Workers Union has complained about the payments for reproductions, arguing that they are very low.
Apart from the latter, at Somos Sinapsis we think that Shopify is one of the largest e-commerce companies, if not the largest. We believe that joining Spotify is going to make a big difference in the music and merchandising industry.