YouTube and Merchbar team up to make artists’ official merchandise easily accessible to fans

Oct 15, 2019 - Product News

Today, YouTube announced a partnership with Merchbar to help fans deepen their connection with their favorite artists. Artists with an Official Artist Channel can now surface their official merchandise and vinyl alongside their videos. This collaboration is another way YouTube is working with artists to become their most valuable platform, providing a single place to share their music, promote upcoming tour dates and showcase their own official merchandise to a global audience.

Merchandise drops have become an integral part of artists’ album campaigns and with this partnership YouTube is giving fans direct access to their most favorite merch. Fans watching videos from their favorite artists on their YouTube Official Artist Channels can now see a shelf with the artist's own branded merchandise and, with a simple click, access the artist’s merchandise on Merchbar’s website. To celebrate the launch, Marshmello has created a soccer jersey available exclusively to Merchbar and YouTube.

Visual of product in action

With placement below the videos on both mobile and desktop, the merch shelf is a tremendous opportunity for artists to drive awareness and get their latest gear in the hands of fans. Eligible artists with an Official Artist Channel and a Merchbar store with US fulfillment enabled can sign up for the merch shelf in YouTube Studio. We’ll be rolling out this feature in the US first and are working to expand internationally in the near future.

Carrying over 1,000,000 items from 35,000 artists, Merchbar is one of the largest music merchandise aggregator providers globally. We're excited by the potential of this partnership in helping artists drive awareness to their own official merchandise while strengthening their connection with their fans.