Indian artist management and entertainment company Represent has partnered with BookMyShow to allow fans to purchase merch when they buy tickets for their favourite acts — starting with Canadian-Punjabi pop star AP Dhillon’s upcoming nationwide tour.
Of course, bundling merch — or even CDs and vinyls — with tickets is not new, but it’s not common practice in India. What’s interesting is that Represent decided to start doing it after it found that merch for their acts didn’t move as well at live shows as it did online.
“A fan comes with a limited spend in mind at the concert and would rather spend on food and beverages,” said Represent founder Aayushman Sinha in an Instagram post. “A fan would also love to come wearing merch rather than changing at a concert.”
In our experience, relatively few Indian artists make or sell merchandise at their gigs, but the counters do brisk business and often sell out at stand-alone shows by international stars and during large-scale music festivals such as Lollapalooza. We’ll be looking out to see if Represent shares any data on whether their initiative resulted in a marked increase in sales for their roster of Indian acts.