LyricMerch, the On-Demand Merch Platform Monetizing Song Lyrics

By Joseph Myers

Social media profiles, tattoos and yearbooks come to mind when we think of prominent ways for people to declare their love for song lyrics. Through its on-demand merch platform, LyricMerch, the online song lyrics library LyricFind has recently excelled in adding merchandise to the mix, with shoppers able to secure goods that feature their favorite song lyrics for all to see.

LyricFind inks eBay deal for its lyrics-based merchandise https://t.co/rD2TtLPXAd (Music Ally)

— musicnewsfeed (EN) (@musicnewsfeed_e) November 7, 2019

A new partnership with eBay highlights that LyricMerch is seeking to give continuous credit to those whose tunes become earworms and make us even more grateful for the very existence of music. While LyricFind has offered LyricMerch goods for around two years, many consumers will be gaining their initial impressions of it through the eBay agreement. Whether a person is well-versed in how LyricMerch works or will be thanking eBay for giving them a new way to honor their beloved performers, the overall platform stands to directly benefit musicians and their publishers, rather than the music labels that often take a large cut of merchandise sales.

As countless bands and solo artists prove and will continue to prove, making a name for oneself in the music business can be a maddening endeavor. Even if someone does break through, that act might do so primarily through an image or a gimmick and not necessarily through lyrical content. Through LyricMerch, though, LyricFind is announcing that while hooks and beats are great, words are worthy of merchandise praise.

A trip to the eBay and LyricMerch website reveals thousands of goods that unite memorable lyrics with the devotees who helped to make them famous. Most of them fit in the apparel realm, but while that might be sobering to fans who wish to display their lyrical affiliations through other options, they need not fear that the words emblazoned on the items likewise comprise a small sample.

Anyone with an eclectic taste in music will find the website to be a melodic playground, as each page teems with promotional tributes to hit songs, many of which are by artists that we have discussed in this newsletter as merch heavyweights. (The Beatles, Ariana Grande and Foo Fighters are among them.) With respect to the nature of the LyricMerch concept, FYI Music News took a solid look at the existence of the promotional products booster last year, noting that artists and publishers will see noticeable financial rewards from royalty rates gained through the merchandise, contrasting the expected financial haul with the typical results of “a mass T-shirt printing deal.”

Considering that the FYI article appeared 21 months ago and that LyricFind has added eBay as a partner to further the LyricMerch brainchild, we would expect for the clout that eBay has earned to up that economic reward system for artists and their publishers. While doing so, we also wonder what degree of windfall the expansion of LyricMerch will bring to the T-shirt market especially. People, particularly younger audiences, love making their musical preference known through apparel items that often feature bands’ names or artists’ images, so if LyricMerch, which is the only producer of fully licensed apparel and lifestyle items featuring top artists’ lyrics and on-trend designs, is able to continue its ascent up the charts, we could see further evidence that when it comes to branded merchandise, each day is a chance to be “feeling good.”