Musicians struggle to break even as Academy Music Group and Universal cream off merch sales

[editor]

Musicians keep getting shafted:

In early March, when the British post-punk band Dry Cleaning played the O2 Forum in London, ticketing company Dice informed fans that, counter to usual practice, no merchandise would be sold at the venue. Instead, a pop-up merchandise store would be operating at the Abbey Tavern, a nine-minute walk away.

With live music returning after almost two years of shutdown due to the pandemic, artists have never felt the pinch more. Often, merchandise is one of the few ways they can turn a profit on a show. But with Academy Music Group (AMG) venues such as the Forum taking a 25% cut from merch sales, their profit margins are being squeezed ever tighter.


“A 25% commission rate is quite a hit to take on merch sales, and it doesn’t feel justified or transparent where that money is going,” says Helena Watmuff from Candy Artists, which manages Dry Cleaning. “Unfortunately it wasn’t an option to lower this, so we let them know that we would be looking at alternatives to selling at the venue.”

UMG confirmed that the merchandise stands at some or all of these venues – it would not specify how many – are outsourced to a longstanding company called Concessions Management International Ltd (CMI) which sits within Bravado, the merchandise division of UMG.

When an artist sells merchandise at these venues, 25% of the gross revenues go to AMG and UMG, even if the artist in question is not signed to UMG.

UMG told the Guardian that AMG takes “the lion’s share” of revenues. A spokesperson for the label would not comment further.

‘Holding the artist to ransom’: musicians struggle to break even as venues and Universal cream off merch sales

The Guardian found that Universal Music Group is profiting from the 25% cut that UK music venue chain AMG takes from gig merchandise sales – at a time when artists are feeling the pinch

www.theguardian.com