This article is for all the artists who have once considered selling clothes or are already in this field, either for brand-building or as a form of income stream. The Question is; Why should you really sell Merchandise as an artist on the come up? For revenue of course, Merchandising plays a big role in the musical business. The idea of merchandise selling began a while back in Europe when artists, managers and promoters realised that there's another way they can quickly earn money during their tours — This is when they starting printing out products that resonate with their brands. By Merchandise we're not only talking about T.shirts and Caps; we are including all types of products that an artist can sell; from branded cups, juice bottles, phone covers, skin tones, masks etc. So if you're an upcoming artist and you need proper income, you should eventually start with flashing out your products during your perfomance or make an announcements of your products after your perfomance.

This is a two-part article and in this first part we're going to mention a few artists and brands that are successfully making it in this field. Yes, almost every South African artist is selling merch but not all of them are succeeding. Most successful brands in South Africa are those that are not owned by the artists but are using artists to make it; especially in the hip hop culture. The local pioneers of selling Merchandise are brands such as Amakipkip, Maxhosa, Bathu, Cotton Fest(Riky Rick), Family Tree(Cassper Nyovest), Headhuncho(partnered with AKA), Yellow Merch(Shane Eagle), Petrol or Milk(Bambata) and many others we will talk about on part 2. These brands saw an opportunity to utilise the idea of using artists to become part of the South African merchandise industry.

How should you start and when is the right time to start?
The right time is now, do it right away so that you can get to make extra cash to use in pushing your music. Do it now so that you get to grow and improve when you're still on the come up. Start with small products that most South Africans can afford; such as T-shirts, Jackets, Caps, Masks, Hoodies, Mugs, Cups, Bracelets, Necklaces or Branded stationary.

For most artists, the major target has become the youth because they love owning something that symbolizes their idols. Just like taking pictures after the show, the young ones find this galvanizing as they get to keep that memory for a lifetime. In South Africa, the idea of selling merchandise is not fully exploited by artists because most artists do not know how important selling Merchandise is in the music business. So if you're an upcoming artist and you have hope in your craft, then please consider selling some branded products — this does not only help you with extra income but with PR as well. Merchandise selling is a form of marketing yourself to a broader and wider audience. We have seen it with artists such as Aka, Nasty C, Areece, Shane Eagle and Riky Rick — they have popularised the idea for other upcoming artists to venture into it. As an emerging artist you can take the opportunity of your support and your performances to create a lucrative business even though music and merchandise are intricately interwoven, there's a great need for the supporters tending unprecedented satisfaction.

There are so many local mainstream artists that you can take notes from when it comes to merchandise and tours, we will get into much details on PART 2. [This is part 1]