For all the talk about illegal streaming, takedown notices and royalty rates, the amount of counterfeit music related merchandise available on websites like Amazon is almost hard to comprehend. This situation is holding back new revenue opportunities and damaging the artist-fan relationship. So, where is the outrage from the industry? How come artists, suppliers and management are so quiet on an issue where there are millions of dollars at stake?
In a recent survey of merchandise availability for the top 100 U.S. artists, we found while 51 of the artists had merchandise available on Amazon, 47% of these contained nearly all unauthorized items, and a large portion of the remaining 53% contained some questionable items. Similar surveys substantiated these results, and we confirmed our findings with some of the world largest licensed suppliers. The deeper we dug, the worse the problem appeared. It is not just music merchandise, and it is not just Amazon.
Unfortunately, policing counterfeiters is a perpetual game of whack-a-mole. Just like a DMCA Takedown notice, Amazon leaves it up to the copyright and intellectual property owners to determine what is listed for sale on their site. A notice can be filed, objecting to a listing, but as soon as a product or supplier is removed, they surface again under a new name, and the process starts all over.
The 80/20 Rule
Artists generate the bulk of their merchandise revenue from live events, 80% perhaps more. There may be a few bootleggers trolling outside the venue, but for the most part, the venue is a controlled sales channel. Basic supply and demand is why they can charge $30-$50 for a t-shirt.
Like record labels that made the bulk of their revenue on CD sales, the merchandise suppliers of …read more
Source: Music Think Tank
