BEYOND THE NOTES
Photo by Tara Radmard
May 21, 2025 | Shreya Varma
LOS ANGELES, CA — MAY 20, 2025 — These days, you have to fight tooth and nail for concert tickets. And when that life-changing night finally comes, we all want something special to remember it by. A hoodie, a tee, maybe even a tote. But lately, I’ve found myself hesitating. Not because I don’t want to support the artist, but because the merch often doesn’t feel worth the price or the hype.
Let’s be honest: artist merch doesn’t hit like it used to. Between the rising price tags, underwhelming designs, and questionable quality, buying that $60 T-shirt starts to feel less like a celebration and more like a rip-off. And fans are noticing. With the rise of bootleg stands outside venues and the growing popularity of fan-made merch online, official artist merch is no longer the default.
In 2024, industry data showed a 14% increase in merchandise spending per person by a 9% average price increase per item. Out of all music genres, K-Pop led the charge, with fans spending an average of $22.65 on merchandise—unsurprising, given how intensely loyal K-Pop fandoms, like BTS Army, are. But as streaming services take more of the cut from music profits, artist teams are beginning to rely on the predictability of merchandise sales to ensure steady revenue growth. In this economy, the price tag alongside the shirt makes a bit more sense; however, with these high prices, can’t merch quality still remain worth the money with a design that resonates with fans?
Unfortunately, financial teams often prioritize volume over quality. Cheaper materials and mass printing techniques help maximize profits. With the rise of parasocial relationships and strong fandom ties through social media, many financial teams are sure that many fans will still buy regardless of quality.
For some, material quality is secondary. But for me, it’s the design that makes or breaks it. Despite the personal brand many artists have created for themselves to strengthen their status in the industry, their merch designs don’t not necessarily reflect their brand.
Take Harry Styles, for example. While Styles has built up a strong brand for his bold styles, utilizing a multitude of colors, and having playful patterns, his merch rarely reflects that. During the height of Styles’s Love On Tour, fans on social media even joked that they could easily make the merch on Canva, the graphic design platform, with its generic font against a plain background. In response, many skipped the official merch altogether, opting instead for fan-made pieces on Etsy or Depop, or customizing their own outfits to match the tour’s mood.
This growing divide between official and fan-made merch reflects a shift in consumer culture on how we define value. Sure, artist-designed merchandise feels more official, but fan-made? Well, we can’t deny the creativity and quality from it.
So where does that leave us?
Will fans continue to be buying more artist merchandise if these trends continue across rising artists? Will more turn to buy knockoff merchandise outside venues, or will they begin buying merchandise from fellow fans?
I mean, if the merch doesn’t match the music, is it really worth it?
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