Amazon Merch on Demand

Amazon Merch on Demand is Amazon's print-on-demand merchandise service, and this listing covers the way Amazon Music for Artists presents it to musicians and their teams. An artist uploads designs onto Amazon's base products, the products are listed on Amazon, and every order is printed after a customer buys it and shipped through Amazon's Prime-eligible fulfillment. The Print on Demand page sums it up in its headline, "Start selling on Amazon. Fast.", followed by "No upfront costs. No inventory risks. Eligible for Prime shipping." For an artist, it is a way to put merch in front of Amazon shoppers without buying stock or packing orders.

What the service is

Amazon Music for Artists describes Merch on Demand as "a non-exclusive print-on-demand and Prime-eligible fulfillment service," and spells out what that means in five points:

• "You can use this service in combination with any of your existing merch production vendors"
• "As long as you have the rights to your designs and don't have an exclusive deal in place"
• "There is no inventory to purchase or manage because all Merch on Demand orders are printed after they are purchased by the customer"
• "Prime members get fast, free shipping (and returns!)"
• "Become an Amazon Seller with access to Amazon Ads and Brand Stores"

The non-exclusive point is the one to note first. An artist who already sells tour merch through another vendor can add Merch on Demand alongside it, as long as the designs are theirs and no exclusive merch deal rules it out. The printed-after-purchase model means the artist never holds unsold stock. And because orders go through Amazon's fulfillment, the products are eligible for Prime shipping, which is how Amazon shoppers already expect to buy.

Cost and earnings

The page answers the money question directly: "There are no upfront costs and no recurring monthly subscriptions to pay for this service. You will earn revenue for each item sold based on your recommended selling price and the base product that was sold." In other words, the artist sets a recommended selling price for each design, and earnings depend on that price and on which base product the customer bought. The page does not print the base costs; for worked examples it sends readers to merch.amazon.com.

The application's bank account field describes the payment as "royalties from your merch sales," so the earnings arrive as royalties into the account the artist names.

Where the merch sells

"Geographically, you can sell in up to 7 Amazon storefronts: .com, .jp, .uk, .de, .fr, .it, and .es. Fans can purchase from their local storefront as well as many additional countries Merch on Demand ships to." Choosing storefronts is part of the design step, listed on the page as "Sell in up to 7 storefronts."

Beyond Amazon's retail store, the page says "artists can add their merch to their Amazon Music artist page and connect to their Bandsintown artist page." The Amazon Music for Artists homepage promotes that link as "the Bandsintown merch integration" under the headline "Your merch, in more places," and the navigation groups the merch tools as Sell on Amazon, Curate merch, Merch on Bandsintown, Print on Demand, Brand stores & Ads, and Protect your brand.

Getting started: the application

The page lays the process out in three steps. The first is applying for a Merch on Demand account at merch.amazon.com, where you log in with an existing Amazon account. The page's tip: "Owners of Artist Teams can get expedited access by using their Amazon Music for Artists login credentials when creating a Merch on Demand account."

The application asks for four things, among other details:

• Bank Account, "where royalties from your merch sales will be paid so consider which account makes the most sense for you or your team."
• Tax ID, which answers "who will be reporting this revenue - an individual or a business/company?"
• Organization Name, the artist name for an individual account or the company name for a business.
• Description, where "a sentence or two about the artist will do just fine." For a larger team, such as "an artist management company that wishes to manage multiple artists under a single Merch on Demand account," the page asks for a sentence about the company and a list of the artists it currently manages.

That last point matters for managers: one Merch on Demand account can cover several artists.

On timing, the page says: "Expedited access is usually within 8 days. The Merch on Demand team has final approval of accounts." Approval is not automatic, so artists should plan the application ahead of a release or tour.

Designing and listing products

The second step is creating the first design. According to the page, "Merch on Demand has more resources, such as design templates, available in their Creator Dashboard." The flow is three actions: select your base products, upload your designs, and sell in up to 7 storefronts. The selection of base products happens inside the Creator Dashboard.

Reaching fans

The third step is promotion, and the page lists four ways to do it:

• "Create a Brand Store on Amazon for a unique fan shopping destination"
• "Add your merch to your Amazon Music artist page to create a one-stop fan shop alongside your digital catalog"
• "Connect Amazon Music to your Bandsintown page to add merch and music alongside your tour dates"
• "Share your merch on socials using Amazon Music for Artists templates"

The homepage frames the idea behind this as "Create a one-stop fan shop. It's a win-win: Meet your fans where they are already listening...and shopping." For design tips, the page points artists to its Instagram account.

The Amazon Music for Artists app

Merch on Demand sits inside a larger toolkit. The homepage describes Amazon Music for Artists as "a one-stop shop to manage your business and presence on Amazon Music," with "real-time data and analytics, features to engage your fans, and monetization tools," available self-serve so "artists of any size can take advantage." The app runs on iOS and Android and on the web at artists.amazon.com, and signing in uses an Amazon retail account.

To claim an artist profile, you search for the artist, tap Claim and fill in the application. Artists who distribute through CD Baby, DistroKid, TuneCore or TuneCore Japan "get instant access to the app" by authenticating with their distributor login. Combined with the expedited Merch on Demand access for Artist Team owners, that gives an artist already on Amazon Music a shorter path from music to merch. The site itself is available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

Who it suits

Merch on Demand suits musicians, bands and artist management companies who want their merch on Amazon with Prime-eligible delivery, and who do not want to fund stock or run fulfillment. The non-exclusive terms let it run alongside an existing merch vendor, and a manager can put several artists under one account. Artists already on Amazon Music for Artists, or on Bandsintown, get the most from it, because their merch can appear next to their music and their tour dates.

The caveats: approval sits with the Merch on Demand team, earnings depend on base costs shown inside the Creator Dashboard, and sales run through Amazon's storefronts rather than an artist-owned shop.