The Merch Table: Where Bands Actually Make Their Money

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 09:00:00 +0000

The most important square metre in any venue is a folding table at the back, under the worst lighting in the building, stacked with T-shirts in size runs from small to a hopeful XXXL, with a card reader gaffer-taped to a shoebox and a person behind it who has been on their feet since load-in and will be there long after the last chord. That table is where the tour actually makes its money. Everything on the stage — the lights, the pyro, the ninety minutes of transcendence — is, in cold commercial terms, an advert for the table. I mean that literally. For most touring bands below the arena tier, the gig is the loss-leader and the shirt is the product.

Vinyl - vo.rs

The Merch Table: Where Bands Actually Make Their Money