This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply. Todd Spangler, writing for Variety: Spotify on Wednesday announced a new partnership with ecommerce provider Shopify to let artists list merchandise directly on their profiles on the audio-streaming giant’s platform.Any artist globally can already link to their Shopify store if they have one from their Spotify profile. But now Spotify users will see featured product listings from Shopify on the service; during the initial beta period, Shopify merchandise will only be visible to Spotify listeners in five countries: the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.To set up their virtual merch tables, Spotify artists must have a Shopify account. Shopify’s pricing plans range from $29/month for a basic ecommerce package up to $299/month for an “advanced” tier that includes enhanced reporting. Shopify is offering a 90-day free trial to all Spotify artists signing up for the first time. more Not all embedded content is displayed here. You can view the original to see embedded videos, tweets, etc.
I’m primarily a mobile Spotify user. Does this replace a band’s “Offers” section? Article didn’t state or I missed it. Seems redundant, though with the partnership (surely Spotify gets a cut now as the referrer), I’m sure it’ll be more prominently placed. It’s at the very bottom of the artist’s page now. If you go to shows, merch goes hand-in-hand with the live music experience. This becoming more of a priority just makes sense and it’s kind of odd it hasn’t been addressed sooner.
I think the challenge has always been how many different merch platforms there are. Maybe that's starting to consolidate? Or Shopify has gained enough of the backend marketshare to accommodate a relationship like this?
Could also be that most listeners engage with acts on streaming services vs. their social profiles/websites so this would likely move more product.
Spotify's entire setup to sell any band's anything has always been dogshit so here's hoping that aspect of the UX improves.