Artists making more from merch sales is music to rapper Cadence Weapon's ears

As It Happens6:03Cutting merch fees is a strong start in helping touring artists, says Canadian rapper

Merchandise sales are essential for touring artists, and a new program will give them a bigger slice of the pie.

Concert promotion company Live Nation announced on Tuesday it would no longer be taking their cut of merch sales at some venues.

Canadian rapper Rollie Pemberton, a.k.a. Cadence Weapon, says that's a terrific start to help make touring easier — but he says more more venues need to be included.

Live Nation, which is one of the biggest concert promoters in the world, is partnering with singer-songwriter and activist Willie Nelson to making touring easier for musicians. It will also give headliners and openers a $1,500 US ($2,024 Cdn) stipend per show for travel expenses. 

So far only a few venues are taking part in the campaign, but Pemberton hopes that will expand. 

Pemberton has been advocating for this kind of program with the #MyMerch campaign that he helped launch. Here's part of his conversation with As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

What is it going to mean to you, dollars and cents, to not have to give away a cut of your merch when you play these venues? 

Well, not having a merch cut is very important as an artist. It's the difference between, you know, breaking even and losing money on a tour.

What I'm more concerned about, just seeing what Live Nation is doing, is how long is this going to be happening for? Is this a permanent change? Is it only for the rest of the year? There's still a lot of ambiguity with that, so it would be great if it's a continued thing, but I need to know more. 

What kinds of things are you selling when you do these shows? 

It would be all manner of merch: things like CDs, records, vinyl records, T-shirts and books as well. 

And what is the cut that these venues were taking? 

Anywhere from 15 per cent to 35 per cent. At the end of a tour, it could be thousands [of dollars]. 

That's a pretty big cut. And how did that affect you? I mean, this is this is part of your livelihood, right? 

Of course. And this is one of the reasons why you see at shows such high prices, because we have to factor in how much we're going to lose on a merch cut. And so that expense gets moved onto the consumer. 

Do you think fans know that and know that this cut was being taken? 

No, I don't think fans knew that. I have had so many fans reaching out to me, [messaging] me, being like, "I never heard of a merch cut." 

But this is ... one of those things that was just in the background that all artists knew about. It's something we talked about amongst ourselves and we're like, "Why is this happening? What is the history of this?"

But it was something that I think a lot of fans didn't realize because for fans, they're under the assumption that buying merch is the best way to support an artist.

You know, it's like, "Okay, I'm going to go to the merch table. The money goes directly from me to the artist." And they don't realize that the venue is also taking a cut. 

I mean, it's the same thing for Beyoncé or Taylor Swift. There is a merch cut for them, too. It's a struggle that's universal for artists. 

Do you know of examples where people were in the hole because of these kinds of cuts, like they were not getting all the attention that they wanted and they certainly weren't making money either?

Oh, of course, I've heard it time and time again. Really, the thing is, not only are they in the hole, but it also factors into whether or not they will be able to tour in the first place. 

I've heard of people being like, "Oh, well, the merch cuts are going to be so bad and the travel expenses on top of that, I can't even justify going to Europe. I can't justify going to the States for a tour because on top of that you have to get a work visa." 

Like there's so many hidden expenses that the average music fan doesn't realise are involved with touring. 

You said that more needs to be done. We know so far eight venues in Canada have signed on there [with Live Nation] — in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and in Ontario's Muskoka region. What specifically do you think needs to happen next? Do you imagine that more will sign on? 

I really hope that more will sign on. I've been advocating alongside this American group called [the Union of Musicians & Allied Workers]. We have a campaign called MyMerch, where different venues all around North America can sign on. 

We've been working on this for over a year, and we feel like this campaign by Live Nation is in response to the advocacy that we've been doing. And I'm hoping more and more venues will sign on to our group and … Live Nation should have all their venues doing it, not just a few. 

Are you worried in all of this that the live venues that these artists, that you rely on, will suffer because of this, that they're going to lose a lot of revenue and maybe even have to shut down? 

Of course. I mean, I think what we have to realize here is music is an ecosystem. It's not we're not against each other, really. It's like I just want an equitable arrangement for everyone, for artists, for venues, for the people, selling tickets, for everything. We're all in this together. 

That's what everyone was saying at the beginning of the pandemic, when the venues couldn't have shows and they were like, "Hey, can you artists say something about how important our venue is and might we help them out then?" And all we're asking for is a helping hand in the other direction now.